Inside
The Medium’s Cabinet
JOSEPH DUNNINGEK
NEW YORK
DAVID KEMP AND COMPANY
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COPYRIGHT, 1935, BY
DAVID KEMP AND COMPANY, INC.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form
FIRST EDITION
GIFT
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY
THE HADDON CRAFTSMEN, INC., CAMDEN, N.J.
TYPOGRAPHY BY M. A. FRIEDMAN
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EtXJC. •
PSYCH. 1
LIBRARY
FOREWORD
i HAVE BEEN INSIDE THE MEDIUM’S CABI-
net. It is a place unhaunted. It serves only as a covering
for trickery and fraud.
Such practices have been linked with false theories
of survival. They cloud an issue that is vital to man-
kind. Therefore the frauds within the medium’s cabi-
net are to be condemned and exposed.
Inside the medium’s cabinet, I have discovered the
trickery that lies there. I have challenged the mediums
to produce the marvels that only ghosts can bring.
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224
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FOREWORD
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When they have finished with their efforts, I have en-
tered the same cabinet. By natural, scientific methods,
I have duplicated and surpassed the phenomena which
they say belong only to the unknown.
There are natural laws that still remain for science
to discover. There is the soul of life, itself, to which
religion alone can supply the needs of man.
But neither science nor religion belongs within the
medium’s cabinet. Sham is the only dweller behind
those tight-closed curtains. It masks as pseudo-science;
it voices false religion. The wise are not deceived.
To shamsters who will dispute my statement, I have
one single answer. My challenge remains open. That
is the answer which words can not defy.
Let them bring their prodigies to the proving
ground. Within the medium’s cabinet, I shall repro-
duce or explain whatever they can offer.
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CONTENTS
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Foreword v
1 Introduction i
11 Magicians Versus Mediums 7
III The Millionaire Medium 28
IV The Houdini Message 43
V The Message that Missed 36
VI The Case of Mrs. Werner 75
VII Madam Taylor 86
VIII Nino Pecoraro 97
IX The Pecoraro Test Stances 106
X The Pecoraro Confessions 119
XI My Seances with Fran\ Decker 131
XII Medical Mediumship 143
XIII Around the Psychic Circles 132
XIV Mediums in the Hauptmann Case 163
XV Mediums at Wor\ 180
XVI Where the Trumpets Come From 79/
XVII A Summary of Spiritism 206
Appendix 224
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Inside
The Medium’s Cabinet
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
T
JL HE PRANKS OF MIDNIGHT VISITORS
from the great beyond have been recorded time and
again. The question continually arises, “Do the spirits
of the departed return?”
This is a material world we live in; and the oft-
repeated tales of uncanny powers, supernatural, if you
please, of various mediums, seem to come either from
an organized group of spirit press agents, or from the
distorted minds of those who have attended seances,
and believe they have seen everything from a spook
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midget to an organized army of ectoplastic visitors,
such as are reported to have walked the streets of
Rome during the reign of the great Caesar.
The World War, which cannot be recorded as a
thing of the past for centuries to come, is to my mind
directly responsible for the sensational boom which
has given to spiritualism millions of believers; and
has incidentally been the foundation upon which
thousands of present day charlatans, disguised in the
robes of ghost producers, are harvesting sums of
money and in many instances small fortunes. Even
the skeptical minded individual who heretofore looked
upon spiritualism as mere child’s play, or food for the
weaker minded, frequents a seance parlor with the
actual hope of receiving a communication from some
departed loved one.
To the gullible minded, and unfortunately these are
numerous, spiritualists seem a god-send; to the scien-
tific minded, and to the investigator, this class of self-
styled mystic is nothing more than a mountebank.
The writer does not wish to question anyone’s re-
ligious beliefs, but does wish to take a definite stand
against all unscientific demonstrations and all spirit-
ualistic hokus-pocus, which, as a rule, are designed
only to prey upon trusting and believing people, either
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INTRODUCTION
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to extract money from them directly or indirectly,
or otherwise to obtain publicity for ulterior purposes.
Of course, not everything is fraud. Much is self
deception which may be termed self hypnosis. If you
sit in a darkened room and are sufficiently keyed up,
your senses will play all sorts of tricks provided the
nervous system is receptive.
The psyche investigator understands this phase
thoroughly, and also knows how self hypnosis works
under these circumstances, particularly when the sub-
ject is anxious to believe the most incredible things
that are going to be enacted in front of him. The sub-
conscious mind is a wonderful machine, as anyone
who has read Coue can testify.
If you are in a receptive state of mind, you can
make yourself imagine almost anything. It may be
noted here that nearly all of the distinguished con-
verts to spiritualism are older men, men in their fifties
and sixties. What is the explanation? The fact that
their senses are not as sharp as those of younger men
would not seem the real one.
It is my conviction that we all have a secret long-
ing for the future, with an anticipation of what lies
before us; and the man who has reached the autumn
of life, unconsciously craves assurance of a tangible
hereafter. If a man of years sees what is apparently
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evidence of a very definite existence beyond the pale,
he will readily accept it under the subtle persuasion
of a convincing medium.
In this class we find the late Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, who published the statement that his last years
on earth were being spent in preparation for the life
to come. Mentally, by his own admission, Conan Doyle
retired from the world, and shut out thoughts of ma-
terial things, in the belief that he was making ready
for another phase of existence.
To a man who has willingly placed himself in this
state of mind, nothing is incredible. Sir Arthur en-
dorsed a number of mediums residing both here and
abroad, who he claimed were genuine, and upon
whose demonstrations he based his sincere belief.
Let it be clearly understood that I place no stigma
upon those who have chosen Spiritualism purely as a
religion. As a belief, they are entitled to hold it as
their own, without interference from others.
But I do attack those who have masked themselves
as believers in order to prey upon the sincere. These
masqueraders are the fradulent mediums; and in their
craftiness, they have interwoven themselves with the
Spiritualistic faith, that they may cry out in holy hor-
ror every time that they — as individuals — are justifiably
called to task.
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To reiterate this point would be both burdensome
and unnecessary; a sop to the masqueraders them-
selves. Hence, I am making it plain that whenever I
speak adversely of certain Spiritualistic practices, my
criticism is directed solely against the class of pre-
tenders that I have mentioned. They have so identified
themselves with Spiritualism, as the public recognizes
it, that I am forced to adopt their own nomenclature
when I refer to them.
In the course of my career as a mystifier, I have lec-
tured upon the frauds of Spiritualism and have pub-
licly demonstrated the methods by which supposed
mediums accomplish their spooky manifestations.
Under the management of Frances Rockefeller
King, of the Private Entertainment Department of the
National Broadcasting Company, I have made appear-
ances for the past seventeen years; and I have fre-
quently been approached by persons who have wit-
nessed my entertainments, asking me to explain
specific cases which have puzzled them.
Mr. A. Frank Jones, my friend and personal repre-
sentative, who has accompanied me on all my tours,
has been reluctant for me to enter into discussions
after my performances. The nature of my work has
been too exacting, both in large theaters and at private
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engagements, for me to receive visitors at the conclu-
sion of my entertainments.
Yet, whenever Mr. Jones has been approached by a
person who has been burdened by the worry that
only false mediums can cause, he has invariably
broken his rule and encouraged an interview between
that person and myself. It has been our mutual desire
to prove helpful to those persons who have suffered
through the unscrupulous efforts of charlatans.
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CHAPTER n
MAGICIANS VERSUS MEDIUMS
C
JL^ver since mediumship became a pro-
fcssion, its practitioners have met with opposition
from magicians. This is not surprising. The duel is a
natural one.
The same fundamental desire stimulates both the
medium and the magician. Both feel the urge to
mystify the public. Both have held to the same theory:
“Mundus vult decipi; decipiatur,” and they enjoy the
privilege of belonging to the chosen few who can
deceive the world.
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So much so, that mediums and magicians alike have
fought against the exposure of their methods. In the
case of the cruder mediums and magicians — the major-
ity in both groups — this opposition to exposure had
become fanaticism. Possessed of a few tawdry “se-
crets,” they quiver with alarm when even the most in-
significant methods appear in print. For they know
that they are dependent upon the poor devices that
they have kept from the public; not upon their own
ability.
Capable mediums, as well as capable magicians, are
not troubled by exposes. They have ingenuity of their
own. They improve their methods to suit every need.
They know that the wiser a layman believes himself
to be, the easier is he deceived. Clever mediums and
able magicians are actually helped through exposes,
which lessen the inflated importance of the tyros who
have tried to imitate the great.
I have said that mediums and magicians are in-
spired by the same urge. This is an important fact to
remember. It explains a riddle which has long baffled
the public, including skeptical persons. We frequently
hear talk of mediums who ask no price for their work.
They give seances without gain; and claim their prac-
tice is a proof that they must be genuine.
Such “proof” is not acceptable.
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Study the amateur magician and you will see why.
He performs for no profit. He spends money lavishly
for new appliances. He wastes business hours practic-
ing his tricks. He delights in bewildering his friends.
Most of all, he rants if any one belittles his perform-
ances or expresses inside knowledge of his methods.
He has the same primary urge as the medium. One
that is irresistible; that carries its devotee in willy-nilly
fashion along the path to personal grandeur which
is his conception of fame. Neither amateur medium
nor amateur magician will ever relinquish an iota of
importance that he once has claimed.
In the professional class, mediums and magicians
alike devote themselves to another urge, the acquisi-
tion of wealth. They have a mutual advantage, for
they are experienced in lines which impress great por-
tions of the public. The world still wishes to be de-
ceived; and the proposition is simply to make the
world pay.
Between mediums and magicians, however, lies a
barrier; a real one, for it is as definite as the bars which
cover a prison cell. Those within are the mediums:
they are the crooked; and therefore, often the
shrewder. Those outside are the magicians, whose
efforts are honest.
What the medium seeks to gain by fraud, the magi-
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cian tries to obtain legitimately: namely, a public fol-
lowing that will be impressed by some one who
possesses skill at mystification. The matter of showing
profit through such efforts is purely dependent upon
the business ability of the individual.
Many magicians have seen their own creations
copied and used for fraud by so-called mediums. Quite
naturally, this annoys them. Nevertheless; it is com-
mon sense, not jealousy, that causes professional magi-
cians to denounce all producers of psychic phenomena
and to class them as fakers.
The real leaders in the magical profession agree
unanimously that from ninety to ninety-five percent
of all spirit mediums are apparent frauds; and that the
remainder may be proven the same. They have learned
this fact from both observation and experience.
Mediums, with their claims to the miraculous, have
a hold upon the public that magicians can seldom
acquire. At the same time, magicians have always been
a threat to the mediums. The greater the popular in-
terest in psychic manifestations becomes, the more op-
portunity there is for the exposers of such phenomena.
Thus magicians, who fight to preserve their own
secrets, hold no qualms about exposing those of medi-
ums. This is not paradoxical. It might be likened to
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a motor-cycle policeman exceeding the speed limit in
order to overtake a speeding motorist.
Magicians feel that they are rendering a public serv-
ice when they denounce fraudulent mediums. Actually
they are so doing. The fact that they acquire profit
and publicity through their activities does not alter the
circumstance.
Mediums have stolen magicians’ methods. Similarly,
magicians have invaded the preserves of mediums.
During the nineteenth century, the Davenport Broth-
ers were the most famous of practicing mediums.
Two celebrated magicians: Maskelyne, in England;
Kellar, in America, discovered methods of the Daven-
ports and copied them to advantage.
Other magicians have given “spook shows,” attract-
ing patrons to the theaters by promises of spirit cabi-
net seances and other apparent manifestations. True
to form, they have either stated these presentations to
be trickery, or have exposed the methods used. Hou-
dini, in his war on fake psychics, was simply carrying
to an extreme, demonstrations that many others had
attempted before him.
If magicians, generally, were capable, the psychic
racket would have been ended long ago. The sad side
of the story is that capable magicians are few. Those
who are properly qualified to expose spirit mediums
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are frequently too busy traveling to concentrate upon
damaging the reputations of mediums, particularly
because the latter prefer permanent abodes and can
easily slide to temporary cover when an attack
threatens them.
This leaves the battle to the “local” magicians; and
in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, a magician,
if capable, would no longer remain “local.” Thus the
much vaunted campaigns that magicians have insti-
tuted against mediums have invariably dissipated,
without the accomplishment of permanent results.
There is a ludicrous side to the “battles” between
magicians and mediums. Though a magician may be
completely ignorant of a certain medium’s actual
methods, he does at least know that the medium is de-
pendent upon trickery. The magician, therefore, be-
gins by exposing the methods which he thin\s the
medium is using.
Some people accept the explanations; and the medi-
um’s business suffers. If it holds up too well, the magi-
cian continues his “exposures” and makes the medium
feel the pinch more tightly. In the great majority of
cases, the magician is lucky if he scores one hit out of
ten. Nevertheless, if he actually succeeds in putting a
medium out of business, he takes great credit unto
himself.
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Actually, the accomplishment is due to the medi-
um’s own qualms. The medium is practicing trickery;
and the attention brought to that fact makes it harder
for him to handle his clients. He finds himself in the
unenviable position where the only way to show that
the magician is wrong is to explain how he actually
handles his seance spooks. No one relishes a dilemma;
spirit mediums particularly dislike such a pass.
With all this, the main fact still persists. Appren-
tices are unable to do a craftsman’s job. Magicians,
unqualified in methods of psychic research, frequently
hodge-podge their efforts. Worst of all, they lay their
own measures open to ridicule.
A few years ago, a group of magicians began an
anti-spiritualistic campaign that centered chiefly in
New York. Their war consisted in attacking quasi-
psychics who were on the radio, or performing in
theaters. They also denounced fortune-tellers, tea-cup
readers, and other small-fry.
The only portion of the campaign that concerned
deep-dyed fakery was the expose — in print — of meth-
ods used by mediums. Old tricks were brought from
camphor; imaginary exposes were manufactured; sup-
ported by a few usable mediumistic methods, these
manifestoes of anti-fraud were deluged upon the public.
All that this campaign actually accomplished was
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to push astrologers and numerologists off the radio
programs, from which they were already due to van-
ish; for they had overburdened the air. It also gave
the magicians a chance to clean house. For the very
society that began the campaign found that it was
harboring among its members a variety of the very
fakers which it was out to ruin.
Real mediums scarcely blinked. Instead, they en-
joyed a smile when the campaign reached its finish.
As an aftermath, the magicians presented a seance of
their own; and in it, proved the toothlessness that
went along with their fierce bark.
Although they claimed to know all the real meth-
ods of mediums, including materializations, these
magicians were unable to produce a single manifesta-
tion that according to press accounts was better than
a hanky-panky trick. Though they had the benefit of
a stage — as opposed to a medium’s more difficult circle
of sitters — they blotched their ghost show.
The climax, in pitch darkness, was to have been
the materialization of a “spook.” Though they ad-
mitted that mediums could produce fake “ghosts” of
wraithlike, luminous appearance, the “spirit” that the
magicians conjured was not visible even to persons in
the front rows of the audience.
When magicians seek to expose spirit frauds, they
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Spirit Hands Made from Melted Wax Are Commonly Used as Evidence
of Supernatural Phenomena at Seances.
A Container of Water and One of Melted Paraffin Placed in Front of the
Cabinet Are Customary. After an Interval in the Darkened Cabinet, the
Hands Are Discovered.
The Author Illustrates How Various Types of Hands Are Made by
Alternately Dipping the Hand First in the Water and Then in the Wax.
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Concealed beneath coat, this appa-
ratus actually causes levitation
/Two hooks as
herein illustrated
worn, one by the medium, the other
by a confederate seated directly
"^opposite
_ ^LEVITATION B>
i BELT HOOK
LEVITATION BY FOOT |
Extremely simple form commonly \\
used by mediums.
FALSE HAND METHOD
Extension bar strapped to forearm for
table levitation.
'ST?
Artificial hand, visible above table,
^^whil^ hand lifts the table.
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Dunninger Illustrates a Mechanical .ti^Attached'to'the Oufs'ide of the
for Producing Sp.r.t R»ps. Se retl 1, “,!d)i ,he Room. the
D00r’ApparatuePIs1 Released^' Producing Knocks a. Timed Intervals
The Insert Shows the Clock-work Mechanism. This Is Used by Mediums
Who Wish to Produce Raps in Strange Quarters.
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should remember that they possess but an iota of the
necessary qualification. Knowledge of trickery is in-
sufficient. A real investigator must have the ability to
study mediums as personalities. He must have some
understanding of the psychological factors which domi-
nate a medium. He must have a real acquaintance with
the subject of spiritualism, its origin and its claims.
The cry of “Fake” means nothing if it can not be
proven. That is something that most magicians for-
get. Also, they totally ignore another side of spiritual-
ism; its intellectual appeal. Spiritualism had drawn
exponents who pose as preachers, as prophets, some-
times as messiahs. Such claimants can not be eradi-
cated through shouts of trickery raised by amateur
magicians.
Read this quotation from an article by the Reverend
Arthur Ford. It is a sample of the “inspiration” that
believers receive with joy:
And the great spirits who have redeemed humanity from
much that is ugly and limiting; these through whom God has
shone like the sun through an eastern window, to man’s
spiritual enlightenment, become to him not merely historic per-
sonages, but actual friends and companions along the way.
He does not read about them; he holds high and holy con-
verse with them. He becomes great in spirit because he lives
in closest communion with those who are no longer in bond-
age to earthly conventions; he develops a great compassion
for those who limit themselves to a physical world alone.
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That is the type of stuff that makes doubtful be-
lievers “see the light”; that produces longing for con-
tact with those on the “astral plane.” Whether or not
its author feels kindly toward the fifty cent mediums
who hold hymn-shrieking parlor seances, it is obvious
that such writings can encourage new customers to
such psychic circles.
Can the magicians match such statements?
Seldom. Their usual line of speech is “canned pat-
ter” rehearsed beforehand, or ad lib remarks that ac-
company the serious procedures of jamming a silk
handkerchief into a hollow celluloid egg, or extracting
a collapsible fake head of cabbage from a gentleman’s
derby hat.
Arthur Ford recognized the limitations of the aver-
age conjurer when he wrote the article in which the
previous excerpt appeared. He had previously “de-
bated” with Howard Thurston the magician; and he
referred to that “triumph” by following with this
ridicule:
My recent debate with Thurston the magician has resulted
in several interesting things. Among the most amusing have
been the flood of challenges from all sorts of second-rate ma-
gicians and vaudeville performers who seem to need a bit of
publicity. Nearly all of these letters are in the form of letters
couched in most ungrammatical terms. Nearly all of them
have caught a few stock phrases from the late Houdini who
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was only a degree less ignorant than themselves, and these
phrases they repeat with the monotonous repetition of a poll
parrot discoursing on crackers. I regret that I can not help these
fellows. The greatest of them all, having retracted his state-
ments and openly admitted that Spiritualism is a case which
can not be upset by a simple trick, I have neither time nor
inclination to further the publicity stunts of unknown aspirants
to first page honors. . . .
Through this statement, we observe the very point
that I have mentioned. The Rev. Arthur Ford exhibited
one advantage that he possessed over most magicians;
namely, the ability to use good grammar. He admitted,
however, that there are such persons as “more intelli-
gent magicians” and he cited one who had written
him. I quote from the next paragraph in the article
by Arthur Ford:
A letter from Will Goldston, of London, informs me that
a number of magicians there have formed a circle under the
guidance of Hannen Swaffer and are seriously studying Spir-
itualism.
This brings us to Will Goldston, the one notable
exception to my own statement that the “real leaders
in the magical profession are agreed upon the pre-
dominance of fraud in spirit manifestations.”
Will Goldston was once a performer of a special
type of magic known as the “black art act.” He be-
came a dealer in magical equipment; and wrote many
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books on magic. So many, in fact, that he is recognized
as the most prolific of all authors on technical magic.
Mr. Goldston concedes the possibility of genuine
spirit manifestations. He declares that he has witnessed
such phenomena. He, himself, considers it rather un-
usual that he does so. In fact, Mr. Goldston has stated:
As a magician by profession and a spiritualist by belief, I
am regarded by many persons as being just a trifle eccentric.
I am one of the “many persons” to whom Mr. Gold-
ston refers, but when a man emphasizes that he may
plausibly be regarded as eccentric, I admire his frank-
ness. I admire it so much, indeed, that I need proof
that he is eccentric. Inasmuch as I have never met Mr.
Goldston, I chose to examine his writings to learn
just how real an authority he was on magic; or how
qualified he might be as an investigator of psychic
phenomena.
Will Goldston once expressed himself upon the sub-
ject of the so-called Houdini message, which Mrs.
Houdini was said to have received through the medi-
umship of Doctor Arthur Ford. Goldston stated:
The news (of the Houdini message) created a great sensa-
tion in the United States. A few of the smaller magicians who
were unable to offer a reasonable explanation of the affair
immediately decided that the whole thing was a fake. A cer-
tain section of the American press boosted the views of these
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magical nobodies, and in a short while, Mrs. Houdini and the
Rev. Ford were openly accused of fraud.
In his statement, Goldston omitted the names of the
“Magical nobodies” and he was wise in doing so. Had
he mentioned any names, his statement would have
disproved itself.
As I will show, Mr. Goldston’s belief in his infalli-
bility as an authority is without basis. Unfortunately,
he did not bother to collect facts before launching out
on a sea of rhetorical opinions.
There were not a “few smaller magicians” con-
nected with the case. There was only one professional
performer versed in magic who thoroughly denounced
the Houdini message as fraudulent. That one was my-
self. This was his first inaccuracy. In this connection
he takes a little stab in the dark — perhaps his seance
experiences trained the man in this kind of research.
He slides in the little phrase “magical nobodies.” Poor
Will! The word of such an authority as he has proved
himself to be need never be taken seriously even by a
most sensitive person, which I am not.
However, for the sake of the facts which were at
his disposal let me quote excerpts from a published
biography:
Dunninger, while still in his early twenties played the long-
est New York consecutive engagement that was ever played by
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any magician — sixty-five weeks. . . . His reputation grew with
his age until now as a society entertainer he has climbed to
the uppermost rung of the ladder . . . not alone has Dun-
ninger entertained the exclusive four hundred many times over
but likewise has entertained five Presidents of the United
States, Thomas A. Edison, who expressed both a personal
and scientific interest in his work, and the Prince of Wales
at the time of His Royal Highness’ visit at the Rodman
Wanamaker estate on Long Island. The English Press com-
mented on the incident.
Also:
In the season 1926 and 1927 Dunninger headlined the Keith
Albee Orpheum theatres from coast to coast. He received the
largest salary ever paid any mystery working individual in
the history of vaudeville.
The distinction of having headlined the two-a-day
circuits has only been claimed by four master enter-
tainers in the entire history of American vaudeville,
namely, Houdini, Horace Goldin, Mercedes and my-
self.
There was plenty more where that came from, avail-
able in more than one form, such as the American
Press. However, Mr. Goldston’s rather breezy way of
dismissing as of small scope such a “section of the
American Press” as included every New York City
newspaper, with nation-wide despatches by the United
Press and the International News Service indicates his
ignorance of that subject. The clippings accumulated
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on the Houdini case easily filled about thirty-five
pages of an extremely large-sized scrap-book.
My curiosity whetted, I determined to find out just
how much Will Goldston knew about American magi-
cians. I delved through one of his volumes entitled
“Great Magicians’ Tricks.” Therein, he eulogized a
youthful visitor to London, who — Goldston says — “re-
minds me of a huge over-grown schoolboy.” Of this
performer, who to my knowledge had never appeared
in vaudeville, on road show tour, or Chautauqua cir-
cuit, Goldston declares:
He is reckoned as the fourth best magician that America
has ever produced. The three who take pride of place are
Harry Kellar, Houdini and Howard Thurston.
In so attesting, Goldston deliberately ignores more
than one dozen prominent magicians of America,
some of international repute, who had built established
careers over a period of many years; and who include
such famous performers as T. Nelson Downs and Nate
Leipsig, two of the most competent sleight-of-hand
performers in the world. In the same category I might
mention such outstanding magical personalities as
S. S. Henry, Eugene Laurant, Karl Germaine, Harry
Blackstone, William Robinson (Ching Ling Soo),
Nicola, Dante, Charles Carter and Lafayette.
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An astounding utterance, that one, even from Will
Goldston. So extravagant, indeed, that he contradicts
it himself, in the very same boo\. Forgetting his friend
the “fourth best,” he turns to another magician, Horace
Goldin, whom he eulogizes:
Horace Goldin is the greatest personality in magic today.
He towers like a colossus above his confreres. ... I quite
seriously suggest that he is as great an artist as any one. . . .
As an illusionist, he is certainly better than . . . Houdini.
. . . As a showman, he ranks . . . second only to Houdini.
Horace Goldin is a great magician; he is also an
American. Will Goldston ranks him as the best in the
business. What has happened to Goldston’s “fourth
best” American magician who rated next to Kellar,
Houdini and Thurston?
Not only in the realm of comment and criticism is
Will Goldston less than sure of himself. Many of his
books contain magical impossibilities. Stage tricks that
to my mind never could work in the manner explained.
I cite one example: a “floating lady” or “levitation”
illusion described in his book “Tricks and Illusions.”
Therein, a girl is supposed to rest in a cradle that is
situated in front of a sheet of upright glass that comes
vertically through the stage. The cradle is connected
to the top of the glass sheet by a rod. That sheet of
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glass is expected to support the strain of the girl’s
weight, which bears downward. Such details as the
fitting of the rod to the top edge of the glass and how
the side edges of the glass will remain invisible to
the audience, are not mentioned. The leverage of the
girl’s weight renders the levitation impossible; yet
Goldston says:
This startling experiment has created a sensation in various
parts of the world. The illustrations correctly explain the
method of this seemingly impossible wonder.
During the year 1920, Will Goldston, in his Maga-
zine of Magic , advertised a new book published by
Will Goldston, Limited, entitled “Magical Rope Ties
and Escapes,” by Houdini. In the advertisement, he
stated, in capital letters:
NEVER HAS SUCH A VALUABLE COLLECTION
OF ESCAPE SECRETS BEEN OFFERED TO MAGI-
CIANS.
A large part of the Houdini book consisted of
“secrets” which had appeared in Burling Hull’s
“Thirty-three Rope Ties and Chain Releases,” pub-
lished five years before. Practically every magician
had read it; possibly not Will Goldston. His collection
of magical books, advertised for sale at about the
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same time, was extensive; but did not list a copy of
Hull’s book.
Will Goldston’s first magnum opus — he had several
— was called “Exclusive Magical Secrets.” The book
was fitted with lock and key that the uninitiated might
not pry into the sacred archives of the owner. Every
applicant was required to sign a pledge that he would
not divulge the contents of the volume. “Exclusive
Magical Secrets” was followed by two other locked
books, selling as high as ten and twenty dollars each.
A few years after Houdini’s death, a book was pub-
lished in London entitled “The Secrets of Houdini”
by J. C. Canned. Its final chapters are filled with
verbatim explanations of stage illusions, taken from
Goldston’s “Exclusive Magical Secrets” and the other
two “protected” volumes.
Did Will Goldston protest this? Apparently not.
One of the most recent books which Goldston has
written contains a friendly foreword from J. C. Can-
ned, whom Mr. Goldston regards most highly. I pre-
sume that the pledges of secrecy were signed only by
purchasers of “Exclusive Magical Secrets.”
Will Goldston would seem by no means possessed
of a perfect memory. In his Magazine of Magic for
January, 1915, he quotes statements made by Horace
Goldin. In the February issue, he apologizes:
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Horace Goldin was the subject of our December’s* “Talks
With Celebrities.” We wrote the article without reference to
our notes of a recent interview with him, and our memory
proved defective in an important particular. The article at-
tributed to Mr. Goldin certain observations as to the War
which were in fact ours and not his. He has called our at-
tention to this, and we take the earliest opportunity of ex-
plaining the matter to our readers and of offering him our
sincerest regret. . . .
I have quoted these excerpts from Will Goldston’s
writings because to me they indicate that he is neither
a reliable authority on magic, nor a qualified investi-
gator of spiritualism. I hold the latter opinion because
of his misquotations in the interview with Horace
Goldin. A spiritualistic investigator must be able to
recall exactly who made every statement on an impor-
tant occasion; otherwise his reports of what occurred
in a seance room are valueless.
I consider a man versed in magic to be unwise if
he makes public statements championing spiritualism.
I hold that opinion because such a man must know
that the majority of mediums are frauds, even though
he may concede that a few are genuine. Knowing that,
he must also know that all will benefit through his
statements.
The harm that his endorsement can cause will cer-
# Another Goldston inaccuracy. The interview was published in the
January issue.
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tainly outweigh any benefit that his testimony will
produce. Therefore, a magician with an “open mind”
will do best if he avoids too much discussion. That, I
again affirm, is my opinion.
Will Goldston has told vividly of a seance in which
he met the earth-bound “spirit” of Houdini. He pro-
claims:
Is Houdini earth-bound? I think he is. . . .
Houdini is lost in his new sphere. He was almost a diffi-
cult man to convince, and I think it more than likely that he
does not realise he is dead, dead, I mean, in an earthly sense.
He has lost his perspective, and, as a spiritual being, cannot
realise his true position in regard to the friends he has left on
earth.
He things he is still one of us. . . .
How many attempts he has made to communicate with me
since his tragic death he alone knows. This particular stance
had been held because an entity who called himself Houdini
had said, “Send for Will.” So I went along. . . .
The “ghost” at this seance was somewhat coherent.
Goldston states:
His wrists were held together as though fastened by unseen
handcuffs. He was struggling violently, evidently endeavoring
to free himself. “I’m Houdini,” he whispered in a hoarse,
almost unrecognisable voice. “Don’t you know me?” He ap-
peared to want to tell us something, but lacked the power.
At last he pulled his wrists apart as though he had escaped
horn the manacles. A few seconds later he was gone.
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Before I can credit that story, I would like to see a
girl float in air, supported by an invisible sheet of
glass. I would like to know whether Houdini’s “ghost”
was really handcuffed, or whether it was restrained by
one of the rope ties described in two different books.
Perhaps the ghost came to question just who was
the fourth best magician in America. Or it may have
wished to correct some quotations attributed to Hou-
dini while in life. Will Goldston published quite a
few of his interviews with Houdini. Ones that had
occurred while Houdini was on this mortal sphere.
But they were not printed until after he had gone to
the astral plane.
I shall have to wait until Mr. Goldston has held
more interviews with Houdini’s wraith. While I wait,
I shall remain a doubter. Even to the fact that the
ghost appeared at all.
Should my doubts fade, I can restore them by read-
ing more of Will Goldston’s books.
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j ohn Slater was known as the “mil-
lionaire medium.” The term was an apt one. He ac-
quired great wealth through his claim of mediumship;
and his career extended over a fifty year period. At
the time of his death, only a few years ago, Slater was
more than seventy years of age.
Slater was a “missionary” of the National Spiritualis-
tic Association. He resided in California; but his tours
carried him from coast to coast. Mediums in every
city relied upon John Slater to “show the light” to
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doubters; and statistics — if such were obtainable —
would show that thousands of deluded converts to
spiritualism were brought into the ranks through
Slater’s efforts.
Message reading was Slater’s specialty; both in pub-
lic lectures and in private demonstrations. He relied
entirely upon that one type of mediumship; for he
found it profitable. He was seen wherever spiritualists
congregated; at their conventions, at colonies such as
Lily Dale. He was always welcome.
For John Slater was an affable personality; and one
of the few among practicing mediums who might
have been described as “distinguished.” One news-
paper writer termed him “a small, bird-like, white-
haired man”; and the phrase fitted.
Message readers composed an old school of medium-
ship that flourished in the nineties. They travelled
everywhere, hob-nobbed with local mediums and thus
gained valuable information regarding the “faithful”
in the towns that they visited.
Some moved independently, forming their own cir-
cles. These men constituted a clique, who used their
private “blue book” to pass data among themselves.
When they crashed a barren town, they sent spies
ahead to accumulate the facts they needed. They
swelled their blue book through such methods.
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Various factors damaged the game of message read-
ing; and made it obsolete. One was mistrust on the
part of local mediums. If they teemed with too many
“readers,” they lost their hold on their own “clients.”
Another cause was dispute among the readers them-
selves. They battled over “territory” like sales agents
of a business concern.
Then the act was popularized in vaudeville; by such
demonstrators as Anna Eva Fay. So prevalent was mes-
sage reading that all exposers of fraudulent medium-
ship picked it as the best game to batter. Scores of mes-
sage reading methods were laid bare to the public.
Message reading faded. It was due for a revival. John
Slater adopted it; and built his gift into a monopoly.
He was friendly with the local mediums. They were
ready to welcome a “reader” who would strengthen
their own petty status. John Slater was received every-
where.
Every “reader,” relies upon two faculties. One,
methods of learning the contents of sealed envelopes;
the other an aptitude for giving “answers” to the ques-
tions themselves. Learning the contents of the enve-
lopes is, of course, the primary objective.
Slater knew the methods of his predecessors. He
knew that they had been exposed in print. Therefore,
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he boldly proved that he was not employing any of
three well-known systems, all suited to platform work.
One such method was known as the “one ahead,”
still used by glib local mediums. The message reader
collects a batch of questions sealed in envelopes. He
holds an envelope to his head; pretends to read its
question and gives an answer. A member of the audi-
ence admits having written the question; and declares
the answer to be correct.
That person is a “plant,” employed by the medium.
The envelope that he sealed is marked; and it is not
the one which the medium holds to his head. The
medium has picked out another envelope; when he
opens it to read the plant’s question verbatim, he glibly
recites the question that his confederate wrote.
At the same time, he reads the bona fide question
and places it on the table. He picks up another enve-
lope; calls out the question that he has just read.
Naturally, it is recognized. He answers it, opens the
envelope and verifies the question by pretending to
read it aloud. Instead, he reads the one that he has
placed on the table.
He is ready to proceed with another question; and
does so, envelope after envelope until he has exhausted
the supply. He leaves his confederate’s envelope — the
marked one — for the finish.
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John Slater proved that he did not use this method.
As proof, he returned question and envelope to the
writer directly after he gave a reading.
The second method often employed was the “alco-
hol system.” Through this trick, a question could be
read without opening the envelope. The medium car-
ried a sponge soaked in alcohol. He drew it across the
face of the envelope. This made the envelope trans-
parent; the message could be read and answered; then
returned to its writer intact.
John Slater did not use the alcohol method. He
foreswore all the clever devices for concealing the use-
ful sponge, such as keeping it in a batch of dummy
envelopes. He emphasized that he used no alcohol, by
coming to the footlights, pulling up his sleeves and
showing his hands empty before he read a question.
In fact, he told his audience all about this method,
to prove he was no faker. All the while, he was cover-
ing another proof that he might have mentioned; but
was wise enough to avoid. He was not using an alcohol
sponge because he tore open the majority of his enve-
lopes before returning them. If he had been using the
“alcohol system,” such a procedure would have been
unnecessary.
We are touching my first clue. Slater tore open enve-
lopes before returning them and their contents.
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The third old method was the “switch.” In it, sealed
envelopes are gathered, substituted for another batch,
and carried off stage. There they are opened, the mes-
sages learned. The medium either burns the dummy
envelopes or pretends that they are the originals.
John Slater did not employ the “switch.” He proved
that definitely by returning the original envelopes and
their questions. But he never talked about imitators
who carried originals off stage. Why not? Because
Slater’s envelopes went behind the scene, prior to his
demonstration.
This gives us the second clue. Slater 's collected enve-
lopes were carried off stage.
Through the points which I have mentioned in
italics; and through direct observation of John Slater’s
demonstration, I learned the procedure that he could
have easily used. I intended to expose it in detail while
he was still a practicing medium but certain circum-
stances caused me to postpone it.
One was that although John Slater carried no alco-
hol up his sleeve, I felt it quite certain that he had a
few reserve methods parked there. I wanted to witness
more of his demonstrations before I made my
analysis.
He knew that I was investigating him. He might
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have had another method ready; and I wanted to view
him incognito in case he might be testing it. This was
difficult because Slater traveled all about the country
and I was forced to await my opportunity. While I was
holding matters in abeyance the second circumstance
intervened.
John Slater died. Did he carry his method to the
astral plane? I shall herewith describe how his demon-
tration could have been performed.
When persons came to the hall where John Slater
“lectured,” their first procedure was to pay a fee, fre-
quently as high as two dollars. They were then pro-
vided with paper and envelopes.
They wrote questions and sealed them in the en-
velopes. They were required to write their identifying
initials or a number upon a corner of the envelope so
they could identify it later. Their own paper and en-
velopes could be used if they desired.
The sealed envelopes were placed in baskets that re-
mained in the lobby. At intervals, batches of envelopes
were carried back stage. Slater’s seance was always
ready to begin; but there were usually attendant delays
due to late comers. Slater did not want to be disturbed
by persons walking in and out of the hall after his “lec-
ture” had begun. He spent too much time in prelim-
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inary “concentration” to have his chances of
“communication” with the spirits destroyed.
This suggested a solution. My explanation fol-
lows:
The envelopes that went back stage were opened;
and no time was lost in this action. They were slit
along the end away from any corner that bore initials.
The messages were removed, their contents noted and
inscribed in brief near the slit end of the envelope.
Then the messages were replaced. When the envelopes
were carried on the stage and placed on the medium’s
table they showed no signs of tampering. A well slit
envelope cannot be detected even when casually han-
dled. But the reader allowed no handling of the
envelopes. His notes would have been observed.
When Slater picked up an envelope he held it to
his head with the writing side toward his eyes. Hav-
ing noted the identifying initials or numbers he called
upon that person to announce himself. When the ques-
tioner arose in the audience, Slater repeated the mes-
sage and gave an answer.
Close by the footlights he tore open the end of the
envelope and in that action ripped away the entire
half inch upon which the tiny notations had been
made.
Sometimes Slater kindly displayed the envelope to
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a person close at hand so that they could see the
number while the envelope remained “unopened”.
This was not marvelous. An envelope has two sides.
The initials were on one; Slater’s notations on the
other.
Slater could also have used a few tricks that were
suited to the type of audience that he faced. It must be
remembered that Slater drew many more believers than
skeptics. The great majority — some skeptics included
— used the envelopes that he supplied. Some envelopes
could easily have been treated with paraffin on the
back. An envelope sealed against paraffin can be
opened readily and sealed again.
Slater was always able to return a small percentage
of the envelopes still sealed. I have described the type
of reserve method that was at his disposal.
There is another method of returning an envelope
intact. That is to know the question beforehand; and
this was particularly easy in Slater’s performances.
Believers could be told by their own mediums to place
certain combinations of numbers and letters as identi-
fying marks upon their envelopes.
The reason given would be that the sincere believers
could gain precedence over the curiosity seekers when
Slater looked among the envelopes and picked one
from the batch. The mediums would naturally ap-
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prove this idea because they invariably had pet dis-
ciples present who would gain greater comprehen-
sion of the spirit world if shown “more light” through
Slater’s demonstrations.
Thus Slater could know beforehand just who had
written certain questions through information from
the local mediums regarding the special numbers.
Those envelopes would be sure-fire; they would not
need to be opened at all.
Slater made a great show when he came to certain
envelopes. It was lucky that he had no alcohol sponge
up his sleeve for he would have shaken it loose with
the Saint Vitus action that he performed in showing
his hands empty and exhibiting the sealed envelope to
those close by the footlights. Believers always came
early and got the front seats.
We have covered methods of learning the contents
of sealed envelopes. The other side of the case relates
to the answering of questions. Slater was one who
“knew the answers”; in many cases literally.
For years and years hundreds of self-styled psychics
have shown their aptitude toward guessing answers.
The longer their experience the better they become.
Time and again I have met such persons in challenge
and have proven that I who claim no supernatural
power can answer questions that they cannot.
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According to the newspapers John Slater amazed the
spiritualists by one marvelous prediction. He prophe-
sied that Hoover would be elected President in 1928.
At about the same time I predicted the election of
Mayor Walker and gave the figures of his coming ma-
jority. My prediction was correct. Therefore the state-
ment that I have just made regarding my ability to
surpass the guesses was proven specifically in the case
of Slater.
Slater was simply a man of average ability but with
long experience in “reading.” His exaggerated claims
gained their only substantiation through the very phase
that I have mentioned. His audiences were flooded
with believers whose inside affairs were known to their
own mediums; the same persons with whom Slater co-
operated.
Many mediums relied upon Slater to convince the
skeptics whom they themselves feared. Often they ac-
quired information regarding skeptics but were afraid
to use it for fear those persons would demand new
revelations which they could not make.
Slater’s performance was a one-shot affair. He left
the skeptics stunned; departed and was no longer
available for other tests.
My own criticism of Slater’s work lay not only in
the fact that he was useful to fraudulent mediums; I
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also took exception to certain statements that he made
upon the platform. Had he been able genuinely to di-
vulge the contents of sealed envelopes I still would have
held objection.
Slater did not base his work upon a supportable
hypothesis.
He upheld the preposterous. He declared, without
qualification, that he was aided by the presence of
spirits. He stated that those invisible beings read the
questions and inspired him with the answers. I was pre-
pared to dispute such claims.
When Slater came to New York in June, 1929, 1 was
prepared to challenge him. He appeared at the annual
convention of the New York General Assembly of
Spiritualists. He faced a huge audience at the Hotel
Pennsylvania.
I arrived accompanied by Dr. Joseph H. Kraus, edi-
tor of Science and Invention , and other friends, bring-
ing two sealed envelopes — each containing a message. I
also had a check for $21,000 on the Central Hanover
Bank and Trust Company, made out to John Slater,
signed by the treasurer of the Experimenter Publishing
Company.
Each of the sealed envelopes contained a written
word. We had taken the precaution to place each mes-
sage between thin sheets of metal, also contained in
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the envelope. The envelopes were so sealed that any
tampering could be detected afterward.
I offered Slater the check for $21,000 if he could learn
the contents of either envelope. The envelopes were
to be given to him on the platform and returned to us
intact without leaving our sight. Slater marched up
and down the platform in agitation and emphatically
refused to undertake the test.
My offer aroused huge antagonism throughout the
audience. Knowing that many of those present were
spirit mediums who claimed powers that resembled
Slater’s pretensions, I challenged anyone present to take
up the test which Slater had refused. Not one accepted.
Instead it awoke a chorus of: “Thow him out!”
The word in one envelope was the name Palladino.
Since Palladino was known as the most famous of all
mediums who had departed to the spirit plane it seems
surprising that not one of the assemblage of supposedly
genuine mediums could even guess the name.
I and my companions were forcibly ejected, al-
though we created no disturbance. All the commotion
began with the spiritualists and ended with them.
After I left some of my representatives unknown to
those present remained. Probably Slater and his fellow
mediums were too disturbed to receive psychic impres-
sions of their presence. It was then that Slater issued
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a statement to the effect that I had done something
quite unorthodox; that I would not have dared to do
it in any church of any other creed. To this I take
logical exceptions.
Slater’s performance was not being given in a church.
It was advertised as a convention. If Slater and others
chose to regard it as a church service they were the
ones who were behaving in an unorthodox fashion,
for an admittance fee was charged for the affair.
My test was not the first that Slater had avoided. It
represented the conclusive case in which Slater dirccdy
refused to apply his professed powers to the answering
of a question that could not be handled by trickery.
Slater used apt phrases. When he picked up an en-
velope he said that he would “psychomotrize” it; that
the spirit of a departed person would whisper the
answer into his ear. Claiming to be en rapport with
the spirit world he failed to receive the slightest ink-
ling from the spirit of Palladino. Yet Palladino’s
“spirit” is one that bobs up at seance after seance so
readily that it seems unnecessary to invoke it.
John Slater was in the business for profit. His life
was devoted to mediumship and money. He found no
difficulty reading messages when the price was two
dollars. But he could not take a chance for twenty-
one thousand. It was inconsistent; but that is hardly
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surprising. Inconsistency is the back bone of spiritual-
ism.
Methods and tip-offs are a boon to every “reader.”
John Slater could give good readings often because
he had plenty of information. He monopolized the
field for himself. The secret of any reader’s success is
his ability to exaggerate and to create readings that
seem sensible to the average person who is anxious
to be convinced.
Such was John Slater, a veritable Billy Sunday of
spiritualism, whose local contacts welcomed him be-
cause he converted their skeptical cohorts and gave
new life to vacant seance rooms wherever he had been.
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CHAPTER IV
THE HOUDINI MESSAGE
V^HEN HOUDINI DIED, IN 1926, HIS
demise was hailed with great rejoicing throughout all
spiritdom. Earthly disciples of the astral sphere had
cause to rejoice. They were freed from the menace of
an antagonist who had been ceaseless and untiring in
his efforts to expose the frauds of mediumship.
So great was the relief that few mediums attempted
to capitalize upon Houdini’s death. They were afraid
to seek the limelight where Houdini’s name was con-
cerned. They knew that documentary evidence might
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prove a boomerang. It was poor policy for any promi-
nent medium to run the risk of stirring up facts that
might bring forth details of his own sweet past.
Houdini’s files remained a threat. They contained a
blacklist of fakers. Many foes of fraudulent medium-
ship claimed access to those records. Mediums dreaded
new thrusts from somewhere; and they found them-
selves in their favorite element — the dark. Somehow,
the voices of their own spirit guides were absent.
Sometimes, publicity seekers produce beneficial re-
sults. This was so in the matter of Houdini’s records.
There were many magicians who had known Houdini,
shaken hands with him, or purchased a second-hand
copy of a book that he had autographed for some one
else. These fleshly survivors of Houdini were as numer-
ous as the spirit guides of mediums; and many of
them possessed professional names quite as grotesque
as those of the spirit controls.
The public was promised forthcoming duels between
these factions; and the crux of it all lay in the fact
that many individuals in the legion of magicians
claimed to be the chosen party who had been named
as recipient of Houdini’s files.
This pleased me immensely; for amid the hubbub,
I had quietly acquired the greater portion of Houdini’s
most important records for my own collection. In order
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to keep the mediums guessing — a good practice, for
they usually guess badly — I deliberately rejected a
quantity of duplicate records and useless notes. The
magical claimants kept up their scramble; actually ob-
tained some of the extra documents and increased their
boasts.
The real truth about the bestowal of Houdini’s
records arrived as a bombshell in 1928, when I pro-
duced a book of Houdini’s Spirit Exposes, in connec-
tion with some of my own Psychical Explanations.
That publication ended all attempts at controversy.
Mediums, meanwhile, had been itchy about the
Houdini matter. They made two false starts; both of
which brought them trouble.
Their first insinuation was that Houdini’s sudden
death had been the result of a concentrated attack by
spirits themselves; that he, as the foe of spiritualism,
had been singled out for punishment because he had
denounced the faith.
This was a bad move; one that carried all the in-
consistencies of spiritualistic claims. Certainly, if Hou-
dini had been slain by spirits, only the malignant type
of astral being would have joined in the assassination.
Yet mediums claimed to have dealings only with good
spirits. Whenever they bungled seances, they blamed it
upon the evil forces. Why should malignant spirits,
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who delight in ruining the reputations of mediums,
have taken away the one man who was doing the same
work by human efforts?
The only answer was that good spirits, not bad, had
done Houdini to death. That not only damaged the
reputation of the good spirits; but it brought the argu-
ment closer home. Since the mediums were earthly
agents of good spirits; and did the bidding of those
controls, the summary implied that the mediums them-
selves might have been instrumental in Houdini’s
death.
Realizing this, mediums generally became vague
about the story of spirits who meted punishment. They
switched to their second move: the claim that Hou-
dini’s death had been foretold. They actually named
mediums who had “prophesied” that Houdini would
die within a given period after the date of prediction.
This attempt went into the discard when alert skep-
tics pointed out that those specific mediums had made
the same predictions, regularly and methodically, over
periods of months and years. Predictions that are re-
newed each time they run out are certain to be cor-
rect some day, when they concern the death of a person.
So the spirit mediums tried to forget Houdini. Per-
haps they would have done so, if it had not been for
the publicity that his name still gained. Magicians,
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unable to crash into print through their own ability,
were continually using Houdini’s name as a spear-
head to pierce the resistant hides of newspaper editors.
The horizon teemed with Houdini’s “assistants”; his
“pupils”; his “successors.” They buzzed like gnats
about the heads of mediums. Though stingless, they
proved annoying. Some medium had to get the flit.
The first to splurge on a big scale was Nino Pe-
coraro, whose checkered history occupies another chap-
ter in this volume. Nino gained undue publicity late
in April, 1928. The poison needed an antidote. I sup-
plied it a few weeks later.
Early in May, 1928, I presented a seance of my own,
in which I produced Houdini’s “ghost” along with
other manifestations of an astounding nature. Not only
did I disprove the claims of Nino Pecoraro; I estab-
lished a high-water mark that I knew no pretended
medium could reach. I stated definitely that my re-
sults were gained through sheer trickery; that I pos-
sessed no mediumistic power. In so doing, I issued a
direct challenge to all fraudulent spook-producers. It
was “hands-off” so far as future Houdini seances were
concerned. I knew, without question, that mediums
would avoid hurting their doubtful reputations by at-
tempting to produce, in their puny fashion, new mani-
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festations that would prove ridiculous when compared
to mine.
I quote from an Associated Press despatch of May
fourth:
Pecoraro’s seance was given . . . several days ago and the
best he could do after five hours was to produce a voice pur-
porting to be Houdini’s which seemed to have nothing of im-
portance to say.
Dunninger . . . before the same audience of thirty news-
paper men and women and under identical conditions, pro-
duced a luminous figure resembling Houdini, a message in
Houdini’s handwriting, snatches of oral conversation and a
parafin cast of an ectoplasmic hand which is to be examined
for Houdini’s finger-prints.
Mrs. Houdini declared the handwriting was “Harry’s to the
life” and the luminous portrait the best she has seen, although
she has attended many seances in the hope of receiving the
code message her husband had given her and which he said
he would try to transmit after death.
Dunninger was bound hands and feet, the knots sealed with
wax and after being searched was placed behind a curtain.
Within twenty minutes, writing appeared on cards and slates
that had been left in view of the audience, a tambourine went
sailing through the air and fingerprints appeared on modeling
wax.
There are factors in this account that demand em-
phasis. The seance, as stated, was before a group of
persons who had previously attended an almost blank
seance by a pretended medium, under the identical
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conditions. It is a known fact that many skeptical sit-
ters become sharper and more perceptive when they
attend their second seance. The first law of deception
is to show the spectator a marvel which he does not
expect to witness.
My audience was whetted to the limit. Persons pres-
ent had aided in balking Nino Pecoraro. I was at a
disadvantage far greater than the medium; yet I ac-
complished all that he did not — and a great deal that
he could not have tried to do.
Quoting from the same despatch, I present an in-
teresting side-light of the seance:
Charles E. Davenport, Pecoraro’s manager, after viewing the
performance with astonishment, said Dunninger had medium-
istic powers, even if he did not know it.
My reply was:
“That accusation is not true. I give you my word
everything you have seen here is a put up job, accom-
plished without a particle of aid from any superhuman
source.”
The United Press despatch was similar to the A. P.
story that I have quoted. However, it emphasized one
feature that I quote verbatim, because of its later im-
portance. The U. P. said:
Before he died, Houdini made a pact with his wife and
friends that the first one to die should do everything in his
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power to send messages from the other world. An elaborate
system of signals was devised as a check on spiritualism. Since
Houdini’s death, his wife has been attending an endless round
of seances watching for the sign. So far it has failed to appear.
Last night she became excited when her husband’s hand-
writing appeared and said it was “Harry’s to the life.”
There is one primary rule in the fakery of spirit
mediumship. That is to concentrate upon persons who
have suffered a bereavement. Through the strict appli-
cation of that ghoulish practice, fakers have managed
to gain their strongest converts. Find me an ardent be-
liever who has succumbed to the guile of a fraudulent
medium; and in a large percentage of the cases we will
learn that the dupe was trapped soon after he or she
had suffered the loss of a close friend or relative; par-
ticularly one whose death was sudden or unfortunate.
Spirit mediums recognize that this practice has
brought them their strongest followers. It was through
such application on the part of so-called psychics that
Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle joined
the fold.
All the while that spirit mediums had been cautious,
following Houdini’s death, they had also been trying
their old game. They knew that Beatrice Houdini had
suffered through her husband’s death. They saw also
that she was in a strained, emotional condition.
There, in that United Press account, was an indica-
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tion far more accurate than any that fraudulent
mediums have ever given. It told of Beatrice Houdini’s
growing interest in seances.
I failed to heed the warning. I knew that Mrs. Hou-
dini had been attending the “endless round of
seances”; also that she was in an excitable condition.
But it must be remembered that she and I had al-
ready conferred regarding the publication of Houdini’s
records. Mrs. Houdini had seen the game of quackery
from the inside. She seemed immune to the crooked
tactics of the mediums.
Constant pressure, however, invariably lessens resist-
ance. It seems an obvious fact that in May, 1928,
Beatrice Houdini was more ready to believe in psychic
manifestations than she had previously been.
There was opportunity to score a spiritualistic
triumph by producing a message from Houdini. There
was a channel through which it could be accom-
plished; namely, by revealing the coded message that
Mrs. Houdini knew. This meant that Mrs. Houdini,
herself, must be chosen as the recipient of the mes-
sage.
There was a man who saw the possibilities.
I refer to the Reverend Arthur Ford.
According to a newspaper account of his career,
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Arthur Ford was a native of Florida, who attended
Transylvania College, in Lexington, Kentucky, where
he received his master’s degree. He was ordained a
minister, becoming pastor of the Christian Church, of
the Disciples of Christ, at Barbourville, Kentucky.
He attributed his interest in spiritualism to his col-
lege days, when a friend of his styled “Fletcher,”
promised some day to communicate with him from
the spirit world. Fletcher died; Ford received mes-
sages; and the spirit of Fletcher became his control.
Chautauqua circuits were at their height. Arthur
Ford entered that field and delivered lectures on
psychic phenomena. He met magicians; for they were
numerous in Chautauqua; and it is likely that so keen
a psychologist as Mr. Ford observed their work.
Magicians, particularly in Chautauqua, had a fond-
ness for anti-spiritualistic tricks; for those items in their
repertoire were best received by audiences. One very
competent performer in that field made a specialty of
producing “spirit paintings,” which he never claimed
as genuine; but which certainly were better and more
convincing than the usual brand developed by fake
mediums.
Some time later, Arthur Ford arrived in New York.
Fletcher was becoming more prolific with his mes-
sages; in New York, Ford became the head of the
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First Spirit Church in America, and demonstrated his
occult powers in public performances and private
circles.
I find no record of Arthur Ford seeking combat with
Houdini; although Ford, familiar with the ways of
magicians and presumably a sincere spiritualist, would
have been a logical man to dispute Houdini’s argument
that all mediums were frauds. Instead, he took excep-
tion to an article that quoted Howard Thurston, the
famous magician, as saying that he — Thurston — could
duplicate anything which a medium was able to “ma-
terialize”; and that all mediums, and spiritualism in
general, were only the means of working upon the sus-
ceptibilities of the public.
Professing indignation, Ford challenged Thurston
to meet him at a public debate. Thurston accepted;
and wired me to come to the meeting. I was in the
lecture hall when the discussion took place.
Two factors were apparent. First, that Ford was a
man who had spent his life in lecturing on psychic
subjects; second, that Thurston was not a challenger
of Spiritualism in a sense that resembled Houdini’s.
It was my natural assumption that so well informed
a man as Ford would know Thurston’s actual views
toward Spiritualism. Thurston had been misquoted in
the article. His actual claim was that he could dupli-
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cate the performance of any bogus spiritualist. He was
in sympathy with the aims of spiritualism and had not
denied the possibility of an existence after death. He
was merely concerned lest frauds be perpetrated.
Instead of actually debating, Thurston clarified his
statements. Ford made an address, in which he dis-
regarded important work done by Houdini and ex-
pressed belief in the work of Margery, the Boston
medium. He referred to me several times, depreciating
articles that I had written for a scientific magazine,
disputing the claims of mediums.
Ford’s desire for debate on Spiritualism showed
cleverness. It gave the subject a supposed status that
it did not deserve. The only way to approach Spiritual-
ism is to consider it a fraud; for statistics prove that
the overwhelming majority of supposed phenomena
have been faked.
To take Spiritualism as an open question gives it a
fifty percent claim. In short, the best way to aid a non-
debatable cause is to debate it. Moreover, in any de-
bate, it is not the merit of the particular side that
impresses the listener; it is the argumentative skill of
the debater. Arthur Ford had found a way to combat
magicians. Forensics were his oyster; there were no
magicians skilled in debate.
One would have expected the Reverend Arthur Ford
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to stay within his chosen field. Brilliant, established,
disdainful of magicians who cherished wisps of Hou-
dini’s mantle, he held an excellent advantage. He could
have maintained it. Instead, he took a step which
proved damaging to his position. He decided to reveal
the Houdini code.
The stage was set for a drama that was to stir the
world of Spiritualism. A drama packed with starding
denouements, with unexpected actors cast in singular
roles.
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CHAPTER V
THE MESSAGE THAT MISSED
A
JL JLS PREFACE TO THE EVENTS WHICH
concerned the so-called Houdini message, I shall ask
the reader to carefully consider the statements as pre-
sented. It will be noted that they consist chiefly of facts
that were placed on public record.
The Reverend Arthur Ford played a large part in
those events. He produced a message; he attributed the
exploit to the wraith of Fletcher. In this he claimed
sincerity; and his claim is justifiable. There is a good
reason to allow that Ford believed that he heard words
through Fletcher.
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I have already credited Arthur Ford with high in-
telligence. His own keenness should have informed
him that the message, as he delivered it, was not the
sort that would have come from Houdini. Many per-
sons have heard “voices” and in that experience have
not weighed their own utterances when they have re-
peated the statements.
Word by word, so Ford claimed, the Houdini code
was gained by Fletcher from Houdini’s spirit. An
oddity in itself, for if Fletcher had communicated with
Houdini on the spirit plane, he would have received
the words all at once; or not at all.
I never knew Fletcher; but I had known Houdini.
I speak from personal recollection of Houdini’s ways.
The big smash struck on Tuesday, January 8, 1929.
It clanked from the pink front page of the New York
Evening Graphic, that lamented tabloid that once
thrilled the public with manufactured news and
pieced-together photographs.
I quote the Graphic'.
From the depths of the great unknown, the voice of Harry
Houdini came back to-day to allay the feverish suffering of his
widow, Beatrice, as she tossed resdessly on a sick bed in her
home at 67 Payson Avenue.
Although near death herself, Mrs. Houdini has not the
slightest doubt that the voice from the grave was that of her
beloved husband, for it spoke in a code known only to the
great magician and his faithful helpmeet on earth.
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Slowly, the words, nine in all, fell from the lips of the
medium, who, with a party of spectators, were grouped about
the sick bed.
“Rosabelle — answer — tell — pray, answer — look — tell — answer,
answer — tell ”
And, according to the code devised by Houdini some four
years ago, the mystic utterance translated signifies the single
word:
“BELIEVE.”
Two years before his death, Houdini had fashioned the
code, known only to himself and Mrs. Houdini. They used
it on the stage in mind-reading demonstrations and the only
copy of it in existence is locked in the vaults of the Manu-
facturer’s Trust Company.
“If it is possible for the spirit to return to this mundane
sphere, I shall come back to you,” the magician told his wife
at the time. “You will know it is I, not the imaginings of fake
mediums, because I shall converse in this code.”
Since Houdini’s death the widow had been literally swamped
with letters from persons in all parts of the world, seeking to
collect the $10,000 reward she offered for proof of spiritualism.
The Graphic continued with the statement that
Mrs. Houdini had learned that the Reverend Arthur
Ford had received a ten word message, with instruc-
tions to deliver it to her. Consequently, the seance was
arranged; and the story resumed:
Doctor Ford went into his trance shortly after noon. He
communicated with a spirit he referred to as Fletcher, and to
those within hearing of his voice it seemed that Fletcher was
the only one from whom he could glean Houdini’s message.
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“Hello, Fletcher,” Doctor Ford began.
Then he turned to the auditors and said:
“The man is coming through — the same man as the other
night.”
The medium quoted what Fletcher told him Houdini was
saying: “I want to speak to my sweetheart and repeat my
message.”
Then came the mystic words which meant nothing to those
grouped about, but which seemed to startle and obsess the
sick woman on the bed. She cried out for their meaning. . . .
“The message is a single word from Houdini,” said the
medium. “The word is ‘believe’.”
The account concluded with a final statement from
Doctor Ford. One which purported to be the voice of
Fletcher, speaking for Houdini. Words which Ford,
himself, could guess would be hurled into print. They
are worth reading; for they so closely resemble the
usual patter that a medium glibly gives to a group of
sitters. That is, words which a medium would give,
if possessed of diction as excellent as that of Doctor
Ford’s:
Spare no time or money to undo my attitude of doubt while
on earth. Now that I have found my way back, I can come
often, sweetheart. Give yourself to placing the truth before
all those who have lost the faith and want to take hold again.
Believe me, life is continuous. Tell the world there is no
death. I will be close to you. I expect to use this instrument
many times in the future. Tell the world, sweetheart, that
Harry Houdini lives and will prove it a thousand times.
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Personally, I have attended many seances and have
heard the “spirits” of once intelligent persons con-
verse, all using the same grammatical errors that are
peculiar to the medium. This statement from the
“spirit” of Houdini was merely a reversal of the usual.
In speech, Houdini was direct, blunt, and unemotional
when delivering an important statement. Perhaps,
transmitting through Fletcher and Ford, he found
those “instruments” to be dramatic amplifiers. It is
rather difficult to picture Houdini himself adopting
the language of a juvenile lead.
The news of the mid-day seance was exclusively a
Graphic story. It was written by a young woman
named Rea Jaure; and it appeared promptly that same
afternoon, a fact that was to hold significance later.
But before I discuss the sensational sequel, I shall pre-
sent some previous facts that introduced themselves into
this case.
A reference to the account of the seance in May, 1928,
will show that Mrs. Houdini had placed a reward of
$10,000 for any one who could deliver her husband’s
message. That offer was part of a $31,000 total, backed
by Science and Invention Magazine. Mrs. Houdini’s
share formed a portion of the fund, during 1928.
Then, some weeks before Ford’s seance, Mrs. Hou-
dini withdrew her $10,000 from the fund.
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That, in itself, denoted apprehension of a definite
sort. Mrs. Houdini had impressed every one with her
sincerity regarding the cash award. We believed quite
firmly that she would gladly have paid the money in
the case of a genuine message. But it is quite as cer-
tain that she would not have wanted the cash paid for
a doubtful message.
Mrs. Houdini’s withdrawal of the award was possi-
bly, therefore, an indication of anticipated doubt. On
January 9th the day after the seance, she made a state-
ment which through its wording fits directly with this
opinion. The statement was as follows:
Regardless of any statements made to the contrary, I wish
to declare that the message in its entirety, and in the agreed
upon sequence, given to me by Arthur Ford, is the correct
message prearranged between Mr. Houdini and myself.
Beatrice Houdini
It is interesting to observe that the statement merely
says that the message was correct. It does not state that
Mrs. Houdini believed it was obtained by psychic
means. As a matter of fact there were several very easy
ways in which the message could have been obtained.
When these became known the seance episode burst
like a bubble.
On a night previous to the seance I met Miss Daisy
White, formerly a magician’s assistant, who not only
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knew Houdini and Mrs. Houdini; but claimed ac-
quaintance with Arthur Ford. Miss White told me that
a big story was due to break. Hence I was not sur-
prised when the account appeared in the Graphic.
On the next day, January 10th, I gave a demonstra-
tion for newspaper men in which I correctly read ten
words which were written and concealed from me.
I did this partly to offset any coming claim for the
remainder of the award; it was my purpose to prove
that words unseen and unknown at the outset, could
be learned so long as they were in the mind of a liv-
ing person.
Inasmuch as Mrs. Houdini knew the words which
Ford uttered, they were words known to a living per-
son. His demonstration gave no proof whatsoever that
the message had come through Houdini’s spirit.
Before I had an opportunity to proceed further with
this matter, another story broke in the New Yor\
Graphic. It appeared simultaneously with other news-
papers that carried accounts of my test.
This story was as sensational as the first. Its head-
lines were twice as large. It declared that the Houdini
message was a hoax. I quote from its paragraphs:
The Graphic today is in a position to expose one of the most
monumental “psychic” hoaxes ever perpetrated on the Ameri-
can public — the purported communication from the spirit world
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of Harry Houdini to his widow, Beatrice. Evidence gathered
by this newspaper shows that the sensational message was
carefully rehearsed prior to its quotation’s premier.
The truth of the affair is that Rea Jaure, a Graphic reporter,
prepared her story 24 hours before the seance was held. Miss
Jaure held up her information pending an opportunity to
get all of the facts in connection with the hoax rather than
publish a premature and inconclusive story.
The account stated that Miss Jaure had made an ap-
pointment with Arthur Ford on the evening following
the seance; that Ford made his appearance at the
Jaure apartment twenty minutes after eleven. Hidden
in the breakfast room of the apartment were two rep-
resentatives from the Graphic.
In the course of the conversation Miss Jaure voiced
her inside knowledge of the story, mentioning that
she had possessed a copy of the code one day before
the seance. This produced apprehensions on the part
of the Rev. Mr. Ford. The Graphic quoted him as
saying:
“But you must play ball. Really I’d be glad to make
financial compensation.”
Rejecting this offer Miss Jaure brought the discus-
sion to the matter of the code itself. Regarding this
code she asked Mr. Ford directly:
“You didn’t get it spiritualistically, did you?”
Ford’s reply, as printed in the Graphic , was:
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“You know, Rea, I couldn’t have done that.”
It is unnecessary to discuss in detail any reasons that
the Graphic may have had for printing a reversal of
its original story. Inasmuch as the Graphic subsisted
upon coined news, the opportunity of making two
stories out of one could have been sufficiently attrac-
tive to that tabloid journal.
The vital point is this: The seance story was given
to the Graphic exclusively. Whatever reliance we may
place upon the original story must also be given to
the second. If Mr. Ford denies his admission to Rea
Jaure he is also denying the accuracy of the only news-
paper reporter who reported the seance itself.
My investigations were concentrated upon the code,
and possible ways in which it was obtained. I was
quite willing to believe that Arthur Ford delivered the
correct code and message to Beatrice Houdini. Her
signed statement to that effect is plain enough.
The code was simply one which was originally used
for a pretended telepathy act. Each word stood for a
figure. There were ten words in all as follows:
Pray
1
Please
... 6
Answer . . . .
2
Speak
.... 7
Say
... 3
Quickly
.... 8
Now
4
Look
.... 9
Tell
5
Be Quick . . .
. . . 10
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Through these words separately or in combination
it is possible to signal any number. The words also
stood for letters of the alphabet in rotation.
Thus we translate the code: Answer (B); Tell (E);
Pray, answer (L); Look (I); Tell (E); Answer,
answer (V); Tell (E).
Facts were misstated regarding this code through
which Arthur Ford produced the word “Believe.” It
was not specially prepared by Houdini only two years
before his death. The code was more than a century
old and had been used by the Houdinis in an act of
their own for thirty years. It was an antiquated type
of code that could have been passed to any number
of mind reading teams; and is probably being used
verbatim by side show performers today.
This code did not have to be told to Arthur Ford,
or any spirit control such as Fletcher. The code was
already in print. It had appeared on page 105 of Hou-
dini’s biography, which appeared soon after the ma-
gician’s death. All that any one needed to know in
order to reveal a message was that Mrs. Houdini ex-
pected to receive it in that code.
Moreover, it was also publicly known that any mes-
sage for Mrs. Houdini was to come in some form of
code. That fact was printed by the newspapers at the
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time of my investigation of Nino Pecoraro, as quoted
in the previous chapter.
With her secret dependent upon such slim threads,
it is small wonder that Mrs. Houdini decided to with-
draw her prize offer of ten thousand dollars. Con-
sidered impartially, that action in itself would prove
to an astute observer that some clue was available.
Any one hoping to bring a message from Houdini
should logically have read his biography as the best
source to learn about Houdini. The code would have
impressed itself upon any searcher for information.
Coupled with the facts that Mrs. Houdini expected a
message in code and had withdrawn her prize offer,
there was every chance to form conclusions.
Arthur Ford did not trust the “Fletcher” message
to a chance seance. Instead, he first had a letter de-
livered to Mrs. Houdini, stating that he had received a
message in coded words, which he quoted. It was after
he had learned of the remarkable effect of this letter
that he went through with the seance.
These facts do not alter my willingness to believe in
Arthur Ford’s sincerity. What I disclaim is that the
message ever came from Houdini. The facts show that
happenings on this earthly plane could have accom-
plished results more effectively than any meeting be-
tween the shades of Houdini and Fletcher.
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When one depends upon “voices” to produce an
answer which perplexes him, it is rather much like
gaining a hunch. No intent is necessary on the part
of the individual to form a definite conclusion. It comes
subconsciously; and can be sincerely attributed to any
unusual qualification which the individual thinks that
he possesses.
From the standpoint of the psychologist, we can con-
sider the possibility that Arthur Ford, conversant with
facts about Houdini, identified certain conclusions with
the scene that he had pictured: namely, a spirit con-
versation between Houdini and Fletcher.
While such a hypothesis exists, supported by such
tangible facts as the printed code, a code message ex-
pected, and the withdrawal of the prize offer; no sane
investigator would be justified in thrusting this case
from the solid province of the psychological into the
doubtful realm of the psychical.
There were other facts, however, that came into the
case. I knew that Mrs. Houdini had been ill and wor-
ried; that it was possible that she might have thought-
lessly repeated bits of information that could have
carried. Such, even if they had not reached Doctor
Ford, would certainly show that no message could be
considered genuine.
My investigation proved that there were others be-
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side Mrs. Houdini who could have held clues. A nurse
who was present at Houdini’s death was said to have
heard Houdini murmur his wife’s pet name “Rosa-
belle,” together with a reference to the code.
Another person to be considered was Daisy White.
She is said to have admitted that she had gained simi-
lar information. I had not forgotten her “tip-off” that
she had given me prior to the seance. I sought to gain
more facts from Daisy White; while so occupied, I was
approached by a man named Joseph Bantino, who lived
in the same apartment house. Bantino offered to make
a statement.
He was allowed to do so, in the presence of re-
porters; at the home of Mrs. Houdini. I quote from
the New York Telegram of January 15th, 1929:
Bantino opined that Ford received the message from Daisy
White, who in turn had the code from Houdini long before
he ever became a spirit.
The opinion was Bantino’s; not mine. I have in-
cluded it as a matter of record, only. My own opinion
is simply this: Whether or not future statements may
be made, the fact stands that every detail necessary
to the production of a code message from Houdini
was available to any one in a position to use it.
When Arthur Ford delivered the message, he had
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no need of a spirit control to accomplish his supreme
test.
So far as pressing any charges of fraudulence against
Arthur Ford, it was the spiritualists themselves who
took the action. Once, Arthur Ford had told me that
if ever I ran across a medium who was a member of
his church and who was proved to be deluding sub-
jects, he would consider it his duty to have that person
ejected from the organization. Such conscientious vir-
tue seemed to be universal among the New York
spiritualists.
They expelled the Reverend Arthur Ford from
membership in the Manhattan group of the United
Spiritualist League. Their charge was “conduct unbe-
coming a spiritualist minister.” This statement was
printed in the Sun, on January 25, 1929.
One month later, the Graphic of February 26, an-
nounced that Ford was cleared by the United Spiritual-
ist League. This move followed the lead of the First
Spiritual Church, which claimed there was not enough
evidence against the medium.
Although Ford considered this a vindication from
the charge that the Houdini message was not genuine,
he announced that he would make no attempt to claim
the $21,000 still standing as prize money to the medium
who successfully communicated with Houdini.
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This was worthy of note; since there were other per-
sons who expected messages from Houdini. One was
Regimus Weiss, in Philadelphia, an opponent of spir-
itualism. Another was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose
sympathy for mediumship was high.
Mrs. Houdini, quite disturbed during the commo-
tion that followed the expose, had suggested that skep-
tics— or others — try to produce those messages.
Why not Ford?
His control, Fletcher, was presumably en rapport
with Houdini’s spirit. Through that same spirit guide,
Ford had brought the alleged statement from Houdini:
Spare no time or money to undo my attitude of doubt while
on earth. . . . Give yourself to placing the truth before all
those who have lost the faith. ... I expect to use this instru-
ment many times in the future. . . . Harry Houdini lives and
will prove it a thousand times . . .
Time? Money? Why did Ford not gain the $21,000
for the cause ? He had only to learn the other messages,
to which he could have had no access. Why has Ford,
the instrument, not been used? To prove Houdini’s
choice of him?
The answer?
Perhaps it was because one statement — unsponsored
by a spirit control — told more than that gush of words
attributed to Houdini. Those printed words:
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“You know, Rea, I couldn’t do that.”
The case of the Houdini message is closed. Stripped
to a skeleton, it hangs in the closet of the mediumistic
fraternity. Occasionally, they open the door and rattle
the bones; but only when believers are present. For
spiritualistic believers are the best of all believers. They
believe anything. When they see a skeleton rattle, they
suppose that a psychic force has impelled it — not a
string. Particularly when it dances to a tune from
which the sour notes have been carefully removed.
The dance of this particular skeleton is, accordingly,
rare and brief. The astral orchestra went off key, the
day after Arthur Ford’s great seance. Spirit mediums
may tell the first chapter of that episode. But — spirit-
ualistically speaking — the story ends where it really
should begin.
Viewed from the perspective of the present, the
supposed Houdini message loses all of the ephemeral
importance which it possessed for a single day. Arthur
Ford still has his followers. Perhaps they have all for-
gotten the singular incidents that involved the so-
called Houdini message.
It would not be surprising if Ford’s followers were
forgetful. Ford, himself, has shown an ability to dis-
remember certain of his own statements. I quote from
Arthur Ford’s own page, in the magazine “Immor-
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tality” for December 1927 — an issue that appeared
prior to the time of the Houdini message.
Following a paragraph in which he criticises magi-
cians as a group, Ford states:
On the other hand, a few of the more intelligent magicians
have taken a more reasonable attitude . . . [Then, continuing
in the same paragraph]. . . . Dunninger, the most famous
Mentalist in America discussed the matter at length with me
the other day and I find him really intelligent on the subject.
He has an open mind and is a gendeman. He has agreed that
if he undertakes an expose of Spiritualism, he will state the
name of the medium exposed and say whether said medium is
a member in good standing in the Spiritualist movement, or
whether it is merely a person engaged in mediumistic work
on an independent basis. He is fair enough to admit that the
Spiritualist movement cannot be held responsible for the prac-
tices of persons in no way connected with the organization. He
will find Spiritualist leaders as much interested in cleaning out
these charlatans as he could possibly be. . . .
I have quoted what Arthur Ford said before the in-
cident of the Houdini message. What has happened
to his well-formed opinions and definitely expressed
statements since that episode? I quote from the New
Yor\ Post of Friday, March 22, 1935. This was the
day after Arthur Ford accompanied a party of be-
lievers in an airplane flight, during which they heard
spirit voices. Airplanes, it seems, ride closer to the
astral plane. They are also free from excess weight,
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THE MESSAGE THAT MISSED
—(73)—
such as reporters and investigators. When I called the
plane seance questionable, the following reply was
printed in the Post :
“Dunninger is only a vaudeville performer who has no
standing whatever in serious psychical research circles,” Ford
said. “The only time he ever gets his name in the paper is
when he attacks some one who is doing serious work. No one
who knows anything about the question takes him seriously.”
A comparison of the second statement with the first
might indicate that the Rev. Arthur Ford has included
himself among the class who know nothing about
psychic matters, since he personally took me seriously
enough in his article published some years before.
Perhaps the episode of the Houdini message altered
his viewpoint. It was the one occurrence that could
well have produced the change. But it is to be remem-
bered that during my expose of the Houdini message,
I lived up to my agreement with Arthur Ford. I stated
the name of the medium — Ford, himself — and where
he stood in the Spiritualist movement.
This side-light on the opinions, past and present,
that are held by the Rev. Arthur Ford are not of great
value in determining the final status of the supposed
Houdini message that was piped through from astral
sources on January 8, 1929.
The one person qualified to deliver a valid opinion
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on the subject of the message is Beatrice Houdini.
Restored to health, relieved of the pressure and con-
fusion which caused her to deliver conflicting state-
ments, she is able to answer for herself. She has done
so. I quote from the Los Angeles Examiner of July
22, 1935:
Nine years ago Harry Houdini, master magician, died. Be-
fore he died, he had made a strange compact with his wife. It
was this . . . that he would seek to communicate with her
from the beyond, and he gave her certain code signals whereby
she might know when he spoke.
But to date, though her vigil has never relaxed, there has
come no word across that dread border. Mrs. Houdini had
been married thirty-three years to her famous husband when
he died.
“I receive many messages that are supposed to come from
Houdini through mediums and strange seances,” she explained,
“but they never mean anything to me. Very often I go to
seances, hoping and praying that the signals Houdini gave
me will be heard. No message comes to me while I am wait-
ing to hear.”
This is conclusive. Whatever the claims of mediums;
whatever the delusions of those who have been present
at their seances; one fact alone can be acceptable to
thinking persons who do not mix absurdities with
logic.
Harry Houdini has never spoken from beyond the
grave.
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CHAPTER VI
THE CASE OF MRS. WERNER
i AM INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF THE
seance in which Mrs. Wilhelmina Werner tried for the
$10,000 prize. I do so for two reasons. First: To show
that it is possible for a medium to be sincere and at the
same time employ technicalities which are artificial;
second, to demonstrate that members of the spiritualis-
tic group hear or learn what other mediums have
done, so that we usually find the same type of phe-
nomena offered.
I have an open mind; but I am hard to convince. If
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any genuine phenomena should be shown me I am al-
most certain it would be “brought through” in a man-
ner totally new to me. It would hold no marks of
the “hokum” type of seance. It would not be ex-
pressed in the jargon of the professional medium. It
would not appear in the dark.
Mrs. Werner and her husband Stanley, were con-
nected with the spiritualistic union of New York. She
was a medium and he was a lecturer. Both were ob-
viously sincere. Mrs. Werner requested that the test
meeting be held in a high building where neither
radio nor noise could reach her and where she would
be nearer Heaven — I saw no reason not to comply with
her wish, since it did not interfere in the least with
the requirements. We obtained a room on the 82nd
floor of the Empire State Building with the requisite
chairs and a table.
I opened the meeting by stating my position regard-
ing spirit phenomena. I also performed a few feats of
trickery, saying for the benefit of those present that
these had been used in the past to dupe the faithful
followers of the cult. Mrs. Werner, an elderly placid
woman with gray, bobbed hair; her husband, a serious
looking little man, both watched me in friendly
fashion. I then asked Mrs. Werner if she were ready
and if so I would like her to get across to me from
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the spirit world the ten code words from Mr. Edison
which we discussed before he died.
Mr. Werner, however, wished to make a few re-
marks. He gave a short lecture on spiritualism as they
understood it.
Mrs. Werner then began. She placed her hands upon
the table which then tipped, rising and falling with
one leg always on the floor. It spun forward into the
audience with some force. She suddenly became tense
and the table subsided. Mr. Werner called for lights
out. A red bulb was left glowing by his consent. Mrs.
Werner’s tenseness increased, until rigidity was pro-
nounced. She made awkward gestures, hissing and
sighing sounds. Mr. Werner watched her closely. Oc-
casionally he clucked a little and emitted gutturals in
German as Mrs. Werner gestured in her trance.
The trance and rigidity of this medium were genuine.
There was no doubt of that. It was a case of complete
self-hypnosis. Now to see what could result from it.
Mr. Werner agreed that the lights should come on
again since the trance was complete. Photographers
present prepared to take pictures of the scene. Mrs.
Werner arose, clasped my hand and began to mutter in
broken English.
“Is this Mr. Edison?” I asked.
“Yes,” replied Mrs. Werner. “I am here.” She spoke
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with a German accent in a tone which did not resem-
ble Mr. Edison’s.
“Do you remember our last conversation?” I con-
tinued.
“Yes.” (after a pause.)
“Can you tell me anything about it?”
No answer. Instead Mrs. Werner muttered;
“My family does not believe in spirits and I am wor-
ried about it.”
I repeated my question.
“I am sorry,” replied Mrs. Werner.
She began to grow less rigid, and finally became
limp. She sat down. She had been standing for over an
hour and a half and had given no other information.
Occasionally there was incoherent muttering, and
slight sounds were heard; particularly some faint raps.
When the raps were heard, Mr. Werner exclaimed:
“It’s her raps!”
Evidently, the raps were a usual form of phenome-
non with Mrs. Werner. This was not surprising; none
of her manifestations appeared new and spirit raps
are one of the oldest of all physical evidences pressed
by spiritualistic believers.
The raps, however, were to produce a ludicrous
sequel; one of the most laughable occurrences that I
have ever witnessed at a seance.
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While Mrs. Werner was in a trance condition, a
sharp knocking sound suddenly supplanted the feeble
raps. It came uncannily; it brought the sitters to the
edges of their chairs and it raised Mr. Werner to a
high pitch of excitement.
Then, timed almost to perfection, the door of the
room opened. A janitor thrust his head into view and
interrupted the seance with the statement:
“If that steam-fitter downstairs is abothering you
folks, I’ll go down and tell ’im to lay off. This ain’t
no time to be fixin’ radiators, anyhow.”
After Mrs. Werner again awoke, I announced to
the assemblage:
“I think you will agree with me that nothing au-
thentic was presented.”
There were no protests from the audience.
Mr. Werner, however, said earnestly that he thought
perhaps there had been too much light. He went on
to say that he, too, had received a message from Mr.
Edison on August first. It also referred to different
points of view held by his family. Mrs. Werner was
impressed by this message because it began with “Tona-
wanda — Edison.”
The word Tonawanda meant nothing to me. It was
not one of the code words.
My resume of the Werner seance brings up some in-
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teresting points. It is sound to say that the sincerity
of a spirit medium may be considered in inverse ratio
to the number of manifestations produced. This, of
course, when conflicting factors are eliminated.
In cases of sheer fraud, poorer manifestations are
simply the crudity of the faker. The clever tricksters
produce more phenomena than the clumsy. But in all
absolute frauds, the seances are marked by the glib
volubility of the pretended mediums.
When one encounters a case of serious minded
demonstrators, it frequently follows that the mediums
themselves share a delusion with their clients. My
description of the Werners shows them sincere in their
own belief of spirits.
Werner held conviction that his wife was a genuine
medium. Mrs. Werner, in her efforts to demonstrate his
claim, forced herself into a hypnotic condition, wherein
she resorted to artificialities which she either failed to
remember fully or considered insufficient to produce
the results which occurred.
It was because of their own exaggerated beliefs that
the Werners made their bid for the award. Doubtless
they had heard of the old-fashioned phenomena which
Mrs. Werner was able to produce. What little they
could show seemed genuine to them. If they had chosen
to deal in fakery, they would either have rehearsed
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other manifestations or would not have attempted the
seance at all.
There were two physical manifestations: the table-
tilting and the raps. Both were easily explainable;
neither could match the same phenomena as produced
by mediums in the past.
Table-tilting is one of the chief recreations of amateur
spirit circles. When persons press upon a light table
and fancy that it should gyrate, the table often obliges.
Subconscious pressure produces many surprising re-
sults. But these have been tested, analyzed; shown to
be purely the outcome of muscular effort.
In Mrs. Werner’s hypnotic state, eccentric activities
of the table were to be expected. But never did the table
lift itself completely from the floor and remain sus-
pended. That, of course, is the essential manifestation
necessary to bring a table-tilting exhibition out of the
simple class of muscular control.
Not that a levitated table is a proof of genuine spirit
control. On the contrary, it is a case that can definitely
depend upon trickery. There are many ways of ac-
complishing it. Eusapia Palladino made a specialty of
this stunt. Her method was the “hand and foot clamp”
at which she was surprisingly adept.
The hand presses a top corner of the table and moves
it forward. The toe of the foot goes beneath the table
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lcg. Hand and foot lever the light table to a horizontal
position. The table rises when the foot is lifted. Palla-
dino accomplished it without raising her heel from the
floor. An upward tilt of the toe did the trick; after a
measured period of “levitation,” a jolting release of
t the clamp sent the table skidding.
Palladino was caught in this trick by black-clad in-
vestigators who crawled along the floor, unseen by the
medium. Her own requirement of darkness in the
seance room proved her undoing. But there was no
need for such observation with Mrs. Werner. She
merely tilted the table.
In fact, her inability to produce a levitation of the
table indicated that trickery of the self-admitted type
was taboo with her. She knew, like many others, that
the table acted oddly at her wish. Neither she nor her
husband, I presume, had ever considered the table’s
gyrations from the standpoint of a mechanical opera-
tion; for both were in a mood to accept the spiritualis-
tic explanation.
The matter of the raps was most unusual. I checked
carefully for the source of the raps, located it; and
thereby made a discovery that emphasized my verdict
that Mrs. Werner was both self-hypnotic and sincere.
The most famous of spirit rappings were produced
by the Fox Sisters, many years ago. Their method was
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later exposed. They snapped the joints of their toes
and thus caused the raps. It takes a talented toe-joint
to produce the sound; but the ability is not uncommon.
It is so surprising in result that it frequendy has
amazed the operators. This was true in the case of the
Fox Sisters. While they were conscious of the physical
action, a person in an auto-hypnotic state could be
almost oblivious to it.
Specifically, that person — Mrs. Werner for example
— could know that a toe action was necessary; but
could consider it to be a mere formula, insufficient in
itself to gain the result; but necessary — for some vague
reason — to cause the spirits to respond.
This is quite credible, for it checks with the matter
of the table tilting, which has so frequently been proven
a sub-conscious matter. The Fox girls began their
“raps” spontaneously; another reason why Mrs. Wer-
ner should have done the same.
I have stated that the raps were most unusual. That
was because they were so feeble. That fact troubled
Mr. Werner. His actions showed that he had heard
better raps during the medium’s former seances. It
may have troubled Mrs. Werner, also. Had either
known why the raps were unimpressive, they would
have known beforehand that the results would be bad.
That is why I hold to my opinion of their sincerity.
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“(84)-
They had never experimented with the raps on a physi-
cal basis any more than with the table tilting. I knew
why the raps were failures.
The room where the seance was held was equipped
with a concrete floor. In their call for a seance room
“high up” — a sincere hope that their seance would be
better — the Werners showed their ignorance of the
type of room they really needed to get the best results.
Probably all of Mrs. Werner’s stances had been held
in a room with a wooden floor. That was why the raps
had so impressed them. They needed a sounding board
to produce the full effect. When the foot is pressed
hard against the floor, as Mrs. Werner’s was, a snap
of the toe joint will produce a surprisingly loud sound
with a wooden floor to aid it.
That factor was responsible for the Fox Sisters be-
coming mediums. They first found that they could
produce the raps in bed, at night, when they pressed
their bare feet against the solid wood base-board of
the bed — an ideal condition for enlargement of the
sounds.
With concrete as the flooring, Mrs. Werner’s raps
were certain to be ineffective. Yet Mr. Werner could
not understand it; and he — beyond all others — was en-
thused when the steam-fitter chimed in with an im-
provement.
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The Werners made no further attempt to gain the
prize award. They recognized their own limitations;
but I give them credit for their honest attempt. Though
the manifestations of mediums like Mrs. Werner lead
believers into a barren wilderness, the desert trip is
shared by the mediums also.
That is fair enough. Sincere believers in any mistaken
notion will always find persons of their ilk, to travel
with them. But they do not throw the burden upon
their followers. In a sense, their efforts are beneficial;
for they attract and hold many persons who might
otherwise become the dupes of fakers.
In this day when spiritualism forms the last strong-
hold in the realm of charlatanism, any circle which
may serve as refuge from the preying oudaws has a
purpose. Complete believers in spiritualism will never
heed the sound advice of skeptics. But they will show
confidence in the few mediums who are themselves
sincere; and thereby gain some immunity from the
majority who would dupe them.
Not that I would recommend clients to the Wer-
ners. Wherever sincere spiritualists gather, the vultures
are apt to be ready in the offing.
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CHAPTER VII
MADAM TAYLOR
o CCASIONALLY, FROM THAT VAST HOST
of small-fry operators, known only to their local dis-
tricts or in one or two cities, emerges a more distinc-
tive figure. Madam Taylor, a Negress, originally from
Philadelphia, belonged to this class. I first heard of her
after she had settled in New York. She was said to be
a great materialization medium. Her daring gained her
power, her reputation for producing phenomena grew.
The Hearst papers asked me to investigate her. But
those “in the know” informed me it would be im-
possible for me to see her.
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At least I could try. So, one early January evening,
I rang her doorbell. She lived in Harlem in a brown-
stone front. The door was opened by a colored woman
of unknown age but undoubtedly two hundred and
fifty pounds in weight. I asked for a private seance.
I assured her I had heard that she did some remarkable
things. She demurred, looking at me closely.
“Did you ever hear of Dunninger?” she asked
sharply.
“Who?” I inquired.
“The mind-reader,” she explained, “he goes around
exposing people. He is the world’s greatest hater of
mediums. You look like him.”
I continued to look innocent.
“Madam,” I replied, “I understand that you have
strong spirit forces. Ask them. They will tell you if I
am Dunninger.”
Gratified, Madam Taylor graciously consented to
concentrate and let me know her decision the next day.
The spirits misled her. I phoned her the day follow-
ing. She invited me to come at any time. I requested
the privilege of bringing a few friends that afternoon.
Madam, swiftly counting up the fees, consented. The
fee was five dollars a person.
Our group arrived at eight o’clock. We were in-
formed that the regular meeting room was not avail-
able; so we were conducted to a smaller room, where
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-(88)-
we sat facing two doorways. One door gave us a view
of the bath-room, which the medium stated she would
use as a cabinet because of the limited space.
The other door was to remained closed; because the
room beyond was occupied by a “boarder” who could
not be disturbed. This seemed logical. Inasmuch as
Madam Taylor conducted most of her seances at night,
with considerable attendant noise, a chance boarder
would probably prefer to sleep in the daytime.
The room remained lighted; Madam occupied a
lone seat in the bath-room while we remained out-
side the improvised “cabinet.” Some one began to play
a reed organ on the first floor; while it throbbed and
moaned, we were asked to join in singing hymns.
The chorus completed, Madam delivered a lecture from
her exclusive abode. It was a dissertation on Spiritual-
ism, in words of four syllables.
All the while, I was thinking of the “boarder.” I
still remembered him, after Madam insisted that our
room be darkened so that the seance proper could
commence. Obviously, there was a discrepancy in the
fact that the boarder could not be disturbed; followed
by the immediate call for loudly sung hymns, with the
calliope accompaniment of the reed organ.
After a short period of darkness, we heard a falsetto
voice pipe from the “cabinet.” Several other voices
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MADAM TAYLOR
-(89)-
followed, in varied tones. A phosporescent “ghost”
flitted close to us; then subsided into the cabinet. Next
came a burst of song, in a man’s voice — it was a Negro
spiritual, finely sung. It was sung suspiciously close to
our circle.
Soon afterward, lights were called for; Madam
emerged from the cabinet and appeared triumphant.
We gave the look of being impressed. She stated that
if we cared for another seance, something even better
than this one would be possible. We set January 8th
as a date; we were told to arrive in the evening, as the
seance would be held in the regular audience chamber.
There was nothing startling about the seance which
we had witnessed. We knew that it was simply a
“feeler” on Madam Taylor’s part. We had refrained
from making a “grab” for the one spook that had ap-
peared. Under the conditions, a phosphorescent sheet
could have served the purpose.
The voices, though impressive in the darkness, were
easily explained; and they revealed the mystery of
the boarder. Madam could produce all the falsetto
voices that she required; but a booming basso could
add effect to the proceedings. There was a “boarder”
in the other room, as she had said; he was the one
who supplied some of the voices and the song.
In the darkness, he had only to open the door of
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—(90)—
his room, at a time previously designated. But it was
then that he made a mistake. Because of the darkness,
he did not want to grope too far away from the door, so
he delivered his vocal efforts from the wall between
the doorways. Madam’s voice, only a short interval
from his, came distinctly from the bath-room that
served as cabinet.
On the eighth of January, we formed a party of five,
including Louis Sobol, columnist, Amster Spiro, editor
of the Evening Journal, David J. Lustig and Joe
Cowan. We arrived at Madam Taylor’s to find a mixed
group of fifty persons assembled in the audience cham-
ber. This was a much larger room than the one where
we had held the first seance.
The audience was seated in rows; Madam occupied a
large chair at the other end of the room, where she
was flanked by two associates. She was gowned en-
tirely in black.
There were curtains that could be drawn shut, so
that the medium’s end of the room would form a cabi-
net. When all was ready for the seance, the lights were
extinguished to produce the total darkness that the
medium required.
Some one called for the spirit of a deceased aviator.
Soon, a pin point of light flashed across the ceiling
and gyrated, probably simulating the tail-spin in which
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MADAM TAYLOR
—(91)—
the aviator had completed his last landing. The light
was supposed to be the aviator. I held to a different
opinion.
The phenomenon obviously came from a fountain-
pen flashlight, with its glass treated with lamp-black;
then marked by a pin point. This accounted for the
tiny dot of mysterious light. Gauging my direction, I
reached out in the darkness and caught a moving, up-
raised arm.
“Pardon me,” I asked. “Is that your arm?”
There was no response from the aviator. The light
disappeared instantly. Madam filled the unhappy pause
by calling out to learn if others wanted spirits to mate-
rialize. This gave me a new opportunity.
Recalling that I was here for as much testing as
possible and wishing to tax Madam’s ingenuity, I asked
for an old horse of mine to be materialized. Needless
to say this was a purely mythical animal. I named her
“Edna.” For a moment only silence and darkness an-
swered me. Madam was thinking. Finally she said:
“Your horse Edna is on Mars. She carries Christy
Mathewson on her back. She is very happy. She still
loves you.” A clumping sound began, around and
around the room. Suddenly I felt a frightful pain in
my shin. The lights. Madam sat in her chair and
watched me rub my leg. I felt that in spite of the spirits
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—(92)—
Madam had divined that Dunninger was present. Edna
had been almost too convincing. Edna had kicked
me.
A voice from the general audience asked for a de-
parted one. In the following darkness a huge white
mass wavered around the room. The room shook a
little. (I drew in my legs.) Madam must be under
way again. Square and towering the departed one lin-
gered then vanished. The audience was satisfied. But
I was not. The method was too apparent. The medium
was wearing a white petticoat under her black dress;
the dress itself was lined with gleaming white. By
holding the dress above her head she could give that
square effect; also the surfaces presented to us would
be entirely white.
But Madam Taylor was not through yet. As the
light button clicked she was disclosed lying on a couch,
in a trance. Something white protruded from her lips.
Ectoplasm!
I leaned over her and poked it delicately. To keep
her trance Madam had to lie still. I peeled off a little
bit and examined it. The audience protested. Did I
want to kill Madam? But I had seen enough. Into
her seance Madam had introduced a marshmallow. I
would not have been surprised if it had been a horse!
After the seance, there was a hitch before the next.
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MADAM TAYLOR
—(93)—
Madam had learned by guess-work and experience
what the spirits had failed to tell her. She had learned
my identity; knowing that fact, I expected that I would
be denied future admittance. However, Madam gamely
allowed me to attend another seance. Everything was
smoothed by the sum of 30 dollars. Exposure or not,
30 dollars was a lot of money.
I came to Madam Taylor’s with a larger group than
before. The medium had received the 30 dollars; but
before letting us up to the seance room, she drew me
aside; then commented:
“Jest a minute. After all, this is our ‘developing
night’; for so many people, I should have more money.”
She meant it; so I handed over an extra ten spot.
Satisfied with the bonus, Madam murmured that every-
thing was all right and to “go right on up.”
We found the developing class. There were seventy-
five present, Negroes and whites, all garbed in white
coats supplied by Madam. It looked like commence-
ment day at a barber’s college, without benefit of laun-
dry. We were invited to don white coats, since some
were available; but decided to postpone our “develop-
ment” and sit as spectators only.
Madam had handled matters cagily. She had taken
in forty dollars and brought us to witness a meeting
wherein materializations would be absent. For the de-
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—(94)—
veloping class was here to listen only to the voices of
spirit controls. The “class” consisted of those aspir-
ing to mediumship. They were learning to “grow”
during such meetings as this, so that some day they
might run spirit circles of their own. Madam, of course,
collected from the students for the training.
We had our forty dollars worth before the evening
ended.
Madam began to produce voices, representing vari-
ous controls whom the students were trying to culti-
vate. The developers were thus able to talk personally
with the controls and try to arrange matters for the
future. There were complaints from the sitters; an-
swers from the spirits. The chief bone of contention
was that the controls had not shown up when called
for independently by the persons who had undergone
Madam’s course of training.
These developed into spats between the living and
the dead. A red-headed white woman demanded to
know why White HawJ{, her promised control, had
not come to her seance the other night. She had in-
vited many people. Yet the trumpet had refused to
blow; the table had not moved; she had gained no
messages.
In short, the seance had flopped. The expectant
medium had registered complete failure; and her
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MADAM TAYLOR
—(95)—
friends not only thought her a fraud, but called her
one. She was here to place the blame on White Hawl
Madam went into a trance. She brought White
Hawh^ who defended himself irritably. He was a busy
spirit. He had other things to do besides come to
seances. And had she — the red-headed medium — con-
tributed her usual five dollar fee to Madam Taylor’s
church ?
The woman ceased her complaints. She became
apologetic. She had only three dollars. She had been
unable to give five. White Haw\ became scornful.
What did she expect? That spirits will help her if she
does not help the church ?
White Haw\ made it plain that three dollars was not
a sufficient contribution. Hereafter, developers would
have to make it five. With that tirade, White Haw\
departed, having squelched the complaints of several
others before they had opportunity to voice them.
It went on and on. Arguments on other subjects;
alibis by various controls, summoned to the carpet.
Finally, with the class work done, Madam Taylor be-
came herself and gave one of her speeches on Spirit-
ualism. She remarked, in passing:
“Now you-all here who believe in the spirits the
Almighty Power will be over you-all unless you-all
do something which may or may not be.”
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—(96)—
The speech made very little sense. Perhaps Madam
saw only through a glass darkly. Some of her warn-
ing may have been intended for me. Perhaps White
Haw\ had whispered what was coming.
I had investigated Madam Taylor; from the earlier
seances, I had learned enough of her methods. This
one simply added first-hand information regarding
her system of squeezing money from her most ardent
dupes. I proceeded to expose the medium as a fraud.
The next day, the newspapers carried accounts of
my visits to Madam Taylor. Afterward, I suspect
Madam was short a few members. But her believers
shouted that she had been persecuted. In a short while,
she probably had an even larger following.
For dupes will be dupes. Once deluded thoroughly,
they never lose the urge to attend seances and con-
tribute steady sums to the ever-grasping mediums. They
escape from the tentacles of the racket only when they
end their journey here and depart to the other plane.
Even then, they are not finished, if they have made
themselves well-known as spiritualistic believers. Their
memory still persists in psychic circles. They become
controls who help the poor mediums who are still
faced by the problem of making a comfortable living
on this terrestrial sphere.
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CHAPTER VIII
NINO PECORARO
T
JLhe mediumistic career of Nino Pe-
coraro stands out as one of the most important cases in
the annals of modern psychic investigation. The his-
tory of this young Italian’s endeavors into the realm
of the spiritualistic, the effect which his work had upon
believers and the motives which guided his efforts, are
all of timely interest.
Had Pecoraro presented his seances in the nine-
teenth century instead of the twentieth, he would prob-
ably be considered as an epoch-making medium whom
—(97)—
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—(98)—
spiritualists would remember as one whose genuine-
ness could not be disputed. As a natural marvel, he
far surpassed such tyros as the Fox Sisters, whose mani-
festations, many years ago, were accepted as real de-
spite their crudity. Only one factor led to the Waterloo
of Pecoraro’s psychic career. That was his desire to
convince skeptics as well as believers, in hopes of mone-
tary award. Had he limited his seances to the faithful,
he would never have been discredited.
Nino Pecoraro had the natural qualifications for a
successful medium, from the spiritualist’s standpoint.
There is a great chasm between the mere believer and
the one who is supposed to possess genuine psychic
powers. The believers look on and admire, while the
medium produces the manifestations.
It therefore follows that the untutored medium is
a more convincing type than is the suave, sophisticated
wonder-worker. Spiritualists consider mediumship in
the light of a God-given power and whenever they
discover a medium of plebeian origin — particularly one
who shows no signs of keen intellectuality — they con-
sider that medium to be ideal.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in describing Nino Pe-
coraro, stated: “He was a stunted, under-nourished
youth with a face of premature age and could only
speak a few words of English.” In this respect, Nino
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NINO PECORARO
-(99)“
had possibilities of becoming a logical successor to
the famous Eusapia Palladino — a matter that became
apparent in certain of his seances.
When Conan Doyle was in America spreading the
doctrine of Spiritualism, Nino Pecoraro was in the
early throes of his developing mediumship. He had
come to the attention of various Spiritualists and a
group of psychic researchers arranged that Sir Arthur
should witness one of Nino’s seances.
The success of this affair — judged from the convinc-
ing effect it had upon the Spiritualists who were pres-
ent— increased the prestige of Nino Pecoraro. As a
result, he became a recognized medium and his case
was cited by leading Spiritualists as proof conclusive
that psychic phenomena could manifest themselves
through human agency.
All of Nino’s seances were weird and impressive.
That the reader may fully appreciate the effect that
these affairs had upon the witnesses, a graphic descrip-
tion of a typical seance is given herewith.
A small group of solemn sitters are gathered in a
seance room. The medium makes his appearance. He
is taciturn and very serious in bearing. A special cabi-
net has been prepared for him at the end of the room.
It consists of a screen of curtains, beyond which is a
chair.
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— (ioo)—
Nino, reaching this improvised cabinet, seats him-
self in the chair and the sitters are allowed to bind
him in any manner that they choose. His hands are en-
cased in long black mittens. His wrists are bound with
cords and wires. Knots are sealed and Nino’s body is
tied to the chair.
His only reaction to this treatment is an increasing
seriousness. Nino is going into his trance. His body is
rigid; his eyes are staring. Those who have bound him
stand back, almost in awe. One of Nino’s sponsors
speaks in a low voice. He requests the witnesses to
note the oddities of this trance. They feel the stiffness
of Nino’s body. They touch his eyeballs. He gives no
response. The committee, satisfied that the binding is
complete, retires.
The curtains are closed. The lights are turned down
until only the glimmer of one red incandescent throws
its ghoulish gleam upon the scene. The sitters wait in
expectation. Those new to this seance room believe it
impossible that manifestations can be produced by a
medium so securely bound. Yet Nino’s condition is
impressive. His trance is so remarkable that even the
most pronounced skeptics are puzzled.
In the midst of an unearthly silence — long, tense
minutes have passed by now — a shuddering cry comes
from the cabinet. The spectators grip the arms of their
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NINO PECORARO
— (ioi)—
chairs. They look at one another in unfeigned terror.
In that hovering gloom, one can not believe that the
scream has come from human lips.
New sounds are coming — ghostly whispers sound
sibilant through the seance room. Another voice speaks
with broken syllables. It is announcing the name of
Palladino. The breathless sitters wait; they hear the
voice speak in Italian, Palladino’s native tongue.
“I who used to call back the spirits — ” the falsetto
tones resemble the shrill utterance of a woman “ — I
who used to call back the spirits now come back as a
spirit myself!”
Silence; then the manifestations begin in new form.
The ripples of an eerie breeze whisk through the room.
That mysterious wind is coming from the cabinet.
The believers are tense. This is the “strong cool breeze,
the sure sign of psychic power,” described by Conan
Doyle as emanating from Nino’s cabinet!
The curtains have parted. In the dim light, a table
that was placed within the cabinet is leaping about,
dancing in ghostly cadence, uncontrolled by human
hand! The manifestations are at their height. Spirit
forms invisible are cavorting about the entranced
medium!
The table flies through the air and clatters to the
floor; its lifelike qualities are ended when it has been
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—(102)—
propelled from that haunted spot. Other objects fly
into view — the medium’s collar, his tie, his belt. He is
in the grip of prankish ghosts !
The curtains hang listless once more. The spirits have
ceased their havoc. After the first exuberance of ma-
terialization, they have given way to more sober mes-
sengers from the ethereal realm. A quiet voice is speak-
ing. It is giving the name of a person in the room.
“I am the spirit of your son — ” a listener nods as
he hears the words “ — I wish to speak with you ”
Slowly, the listener approaches at the call. He
reaches the cabinet. He stops and waits, his nerves
tingling in response to the psychic atmosphere. An ob-
ject appears through the curtain; it is a living hand.
Fearfully, the believer receives the grasp. He recog-
nizes the clasp of his departed son. His trembling
fingers release their hold. The spectral hand slides back
through the curtain and is lost in oblivion. The sitter
returns to his place among the other members of the
group.
Quiet moments follow; the curtains belly as though
inspired by a parting, farewell breeze. The sitters sense
that the spirits are leaving. They have materialized
themselves in part; the call of the other world takes
them back to the plane above.
More than an hour has passed, yet time has seemed
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NINO PECORARO
—(103)—
but momentary. Those who understand the happen-
ings of the seance room recognize that the weird events
are ended. Cautiously, they approach the curtains and
draw them aside. They find Nino, his body and wrists
still bound, his hands encased within the long black
mittens, his stoop-shouldered form grotesquely slumped
in the chair.
They are careful when they arouse the medium. He
is still insensible to his surroundings. His pulse alone
seems vaguely normal. The whites of his bulging eyes
are incapable of sensation. It is a full quarter of an
hour before he comes out of his trance, to lie gasping
in the chair, staring wonderingly at those about him.
He is exhausted and does not appear to understand
the importance of the events which have just trans-
pired in his presence. His wrists pain him; the cords
and wires have made cruel welts.
Revived, Nino grins sheepishly at those about him.
He, more than any one else present, appears to be
ignorant of what has just occurred. He has submitted
to these tests instinctively; but he can not explain why.
His sponsors are the ones who tell the new host of
believers that this psychic influence draws Nino to it;
that he can not resist it. Nino is exhausted; the spirits
have used him as their human agency and have weak-
ened him.
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—(104)—
Such seances as these convinced the skeptical. Of
Nino Pccoraro, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle declared: “I
thought the youth was a true medium and might de-
velop into something remarkable.”
Sir Arthur knew nothing of Nino Pecoraro’s past
nor of his future. He was guided — and deceived — be-
cause his mind was occupied solely with the present.
The case of Nino Pecoraro is an important one, for
behind it lies a remarkable story. What was the ex-
planation of Nino Pecoraro’s amazing trances? Ardent
Spiritualists had their answer. The youth was a genuine
medium! Nothing in the past could have prepared
him for fakery. The future would reveal him as a
man to whom Spiritualists could point with satisfac-
tion.
But in this, the believers were sadly wrong. That
forgotten past of Nino Pecoraro was to have a most ap-
preciable influence upon his future. It was to lead him
into fields where keen skeptics would be waiting. He
was to match his wits with those prepared to explain
the unexplainable.
Hard, tight cords; sealed knots; twisted wires; long
black mittens. These seemed proof of Nino’s inability
to fake the phenomena. Spirit voices and eerie cries;
weird breezes and spirit hands. A table that was moved
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NINO PECORARO —(105)—
by an unseen force. What more could be required to
convince the most hardened skeptic?
Yet the unexplainable was explained. The challenge
of Nino Pecoraro was answered. The truth was to be
revealed and with it, the world to learn the eccentric
notions that filled the brain of this Italian youth.
The explanations are chapters in themselves — amaz-
ing sequels to the events that have just been described.
They form a story of shattered hopes and misguided
beliefs; for they tell the motives that led Nino Peco-
raro to step beyond the limitations which surrounded
him.
The failure of Nino Pecoraro, his own explanation
of why he tried to develop his so-called mediumship;
both are remarkable. They tell a strange story of the
deceiver who was deluded by those whom he deceived.
Those who praised Nino most highly were to desert
him, as spiritualists have always repudiated their dis-
credited mediums. For the case of Nino Pecoraro,
which Conan Doyle hoped would develop into higher
mediumship, was destined to become a lasting proof
against the reality of psychic phenomena.
Nino Pecoraro, who proved that the spirits spoke,
was himself to prove that they did not speak. Where
Conan Doyle had seen the genuine, the world was to
learn the fraudulent.
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CHAPTER IX
THE PECORARO TEST STANCES
Jl or several years, Nino Pecoraro
underwent a period of successful mediumistic develop-
ment. The fame of his materializations increased.
Leading Spiritualists pronounced him as one of the
greatest of modern mediums.
Judged from the believer’s standpoint, Nino had
increased his psychic powers; considered by the skeptic,
he had simply become more clever in his trickery.
Nino’s case was bidding to become a focal point in
the controversy on Spiritualism. It was Nino himself
who produced the issue.
— (106)—
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THE PECORARO TEST STANCES
—(107)—
The increasing size of the awards offered by Science
and Invention was the cause. Beginning with a one
thousand dollar offer by the magazine itself, Joseph F.
Rinn had placed an award of ten thousand dollars for
genuine psychic phenomena. I had personally added
ten thousand dollars for manifestations which I could
not duplicate. Mrs. Houdini had followed with a ten
thousand dollar offer to any medium who could bring
a ten word message promised by Houdini.
These awards, grossing thirty-one thousand dollars,
offered an attractive target for mediums. They carried
more than actual monetary return. Mediums who dis-
claimed desire for money could not well ignore the
challenge, for to meet it successfully would mean
wide recognition.
Nino Pecoraro saw these opportunities.
On Thursday, April 26, 1928, he appeared at the
offices of Science and Invention accompanied by his
manager, Mr. C. E. Davenport. Nino was ready to
try for the prize money.
He had previously given a preliminary seance at
Mrs. Houdini’s; one that had brought no remarkable
result; but it had apparently added to his confidence.
Mrs. Houdini and I were both present when the test
seance was arranged in the magazine office. A com-
mittee was formed; the new seance began.
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— (108)—
Dressed in collarless shirt, trousers, socks and shoes,
Nino was bound by the committee. His hands were
covered by two leather gloves, which were sewn to his
shirt. He was tied with ropes, their knots sealed. A
leather harness was strapped about his chest. Nino was
seated in a chair during the binding and was fastened
by the ropes to the chair itself.
On several occasions, Nino objected to the tightness
of the bonds. It was explained that when he passed into
a trance, he might become convulsive and thereby
destroy some of the seals on the knots. Onlookers were
pledged not to interfere with the medium during his
seance; and agreed not to photograph him unless he
gave the signal.
Nino was placed in a corner of the room; a curtain
was drawn in front of him. The only light was a dim
red bulb, six feet in front of the cabinet.
Ten minutes after the curtains were closed, a falsetto
voice began its speech, claiming to be the spirit con-
trol, Eusapia Palladino. The “control” called for an
examination of the medium. Lights were turned on;
Nino was noted, still bound, in a supposed cataleptic
state.
Lights went off. At times, more voices spoke. The
falsetto claimed to be Palladino; another tone pur-
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THE PECORARO TEST STANCES —(109)—
ported to be Houdini. Both sounded as though uttered
by Nino. Houdini’s voice was far from natural.
One hour and a half after the seance had com-
menced, a piece of paper was picked up from a table
in front of the cabinet and carried through the cur-
tain. At a signal — presumably from the spirit guide —
a photographer was permitted to take a flashlight of
the scene. The photograph, when developed, showed
more than the piece of paper in the air. It revealed
Nino’s hand an instant before it managed to with-
draw into the cabinet.
Despite the fact that the “voice” of Palladino kept
promising remarkable phenomena, such as wax hand
impressions, table raps, a materialization of Houdini’s
spirit and his handwriting, not one of these occurred.
Outside of the fluttering paper, the only other phe-
nomenon was the accidental dropping of a pencil on
the floor.
When Nino’s bonds were examined at the termina-
tion of the seance, several seals were discovered broken.
Approximately one week later, I gave a seance in
which I submitted to the same conditions that Nino
had undergone. In that demonstration, I produced
phenomena which Nino had hoped to bring but had
not. One was the writing of a name on a card sealed
in a box outside the cabinet. Another was the “mate-
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rialization” of Houdini’s face, which was photographed
peering from the curtain and proved to be a remark-
able likeness.
I also produced a message on a slate, in Houdini’s
handwriting; together with wax impressions of finger-
prints other than my own. Mr. Davenport, present at
my seance, proclaimed me to be a genuine medium.
When the cabinet was opened, I was found bound
as originally, with every knot still sealed on the ropes.
Nevertheless, all my results were produced by mate-
rial means and had no spirit aid whatever.
Nino Pecoraro was still to be heard from. He con-
tinued his offers to produce phenomena. He gave
seances, under new management. In July, 1930, two
years after his first endeavors, I attended a seance
which Nino gave in an apartment. He spoke in a
voice supposed to be Conan Doyle’s, stating that he
appeared through the courtesy of Palladino and Hou-
dini.
Nino produced a few physical manifestations, in-
cluding finger-prints purporting to be Doyle’s. A later
report from the Bureau of Criminal Examination
stated that when examined, the prints proved to be
those of Nino.
This was the first of a series of seances, all under
similar auspices. They took place during July and
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— {hi) —
August, 1930. While various oddities occurred, there
was nothing produced that could not have been done
by Nino if temporarily out of his bonds.
As some of the high-lights, I cite the following:
During one seance, a voice proclaimed that Doyle
and Houdini were on the other side of Saturn. During
another, the medium came under the control of an
Indian chief; and Nino’s gyrations in the cabinet were
nearly sufficient to break up the place.
Once the voice of Napoleon spoke — with an Italian
accent — and there was a message to Mussolini, declar-
ing that he would engage in a war with France and
win it. Photographs taken at some of these seances
showed some oddities when developed. Certain ones
were obviously faked.
The most significant factor in all of Nino’s seances
was his inability to produce creditable phenomena
when in a position to do so. His work consisted in
self-extrication from the bonds; that accomplished, he
had opportunity to do remarkable things; but did not
make use of it.
To begin with, his “voices” were a device to kill time
while he was getting out of the ropes. To a deluded
believer, they could have seemed the voice of spirits —
but that, in itself, shows how far the imagination of
an impressionable sitter will carry him.
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Palladino’s falsetto was unconvincing, even though
Nino, also an Italian, could simulate the broken ac-
cent that Palladino used in life. But when “spirits” of
other nationalities used the same dialect, the effect was
ludicrous.
Nino deliberately singled me out to be the recipient
of a message from Houdini. When it came, I took it
as I heard it. I lacked the strained condition that grips
believers in the dark room. I heard the words as they
were uttered. They came in a voice unlike Houdini’s
— a voice that was singularly a disguised tone of
Nino’s. The voice exclaimed:
“Dunninge! This is Houdeen! How are you, Dun-
ninger
This was a typical sample of Houdini’s supposed
voice. Other spirits, such as Doyle’s, also blundered
with a pronounced Italian accent. Nino was not sup-
posed to be speaking for those spirits; his claim was
that their own voices were coming from the cabinet.
Such a claim showed the ridiculous measures to which
this medium went.
Where Nino Pecoraro actually excelled was in his
ability to extricate himself from bonds and later —
under certain circumstances — wriggle back into them.
This ability was essential to his production of so-called
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THE PECORARO TEST STANCES — (113) —
physical phenomena. As a self-liberator, Nino stood
in a class by himself.
He depended not only upon set methods, as is the
case with every rope-tie artist; but also upon intuition.
His confidence, however, was sometimes too great.
That is why he struck trouble in his seance for Science
and Invention. He was tied too well.
The first principle in accomplishing a rope release is
to gain desired positions which will allow for slack.
Several treatises have been published on this subject;
many methods used by magicians — and by mediums —
have been exposed. Methods which allow for a return
to the bonds have been included in those explanations.
Nino worked for slack. His complaints regarding
bonds that were too tight was evidence of this. The ex-
cuse was given that Nino was apt to become convul-
sive while under restraint. That, too, was significant.
Releases from difficult ties often require a great deal
of effort, with accompanying commotion. It was wise
to have the sitters expect it and allow for it.
Getting out of the bonds was only half. Returning
into them was another story. Nino always anticipated
trouble on that score. The explanation was given,
therefore, that his convulsions might destroy the seals
on knots. Almost invariably, when Nino was compe-
tently bound, seals were found broken afterward.
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Sometimes Nino was completely foiled in his effort
to regain the bonds. In those cases, he would throw
himself into terrific writhings, sufficient to ruin the
bonds entirely. One of his pet stunts was to batter
about in the chair until he smashed it. With the chair
arm broken off, Nino could overcome the knots and
have a later excuse for not being in the exact condi-
tion of bondage that had existed at the outset.
One crafty measure, of his own origination, was the
method whereby he overcame the handicap of the
gloves. It will be recalled that he was collarless; that
he was clad in shirt and that the gloves were sewn
to the sleeves.
Nino’s shirts had stiff cuffs. He wore a size just
large enough to enable him to draw his hands inward.
The fact that the gloves were sewn to the sleeves meant
no handicap. Indeed, it aided; had the gloves been
bound about the medium’s wrists, his task would have
been difficult.
With this start, Nino had little difficulty in extrica-
tion without too much damage to the bonds. He could
always return his hands to the gloves for the finish of
the seance. It required some contortion to get his arms
out of the shirt sleeves at the beginning; but the re-
placement was simple.
Ropes and harness offered obstacles which he over-
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THE PECORARO TEST STANCES — (115) —
came as best he could, resorting to the chair smash
when occasion demanded. Once free enough to pro-
duce manifestations, Nino went ahead with them. But
there — as with the voices — he was limited.
He could thrust his own face from the curtains; he
could extend his own hand and shake those of sitters
while he piped vocally that the hand was that of a
spirit. He could reach for objects and snatch them
from tables outside the cabinet. He could write mes-
sages on cards or slates, or make finger-prints in wax.
He did all these things while released.
But he did them inartistically. He wrote my name
on a piece of paper, claiming that Houdini’s spirit
was doing it. He added Houdini’s purported signa-
ture and misspelled it. When he did the same through
the “spirit” of Conan Doyle, the signature was writ-
ten: “Cohn Doyle.”
Ready to meet every challenge, Nino blundered into
many tests; and among his crude results were occa-
sional occurrences that showed flashes of unusual in-
genuity.
Investigators wanted to take photographs of mani-
festations. Nino agreed. When he knew that there
would be no chance to have the plates faked, he
adopted such measures as the one at the Science and
Invention seance, where he yanked the paper toward
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— (116) —
the cabinet and called for a flashlight, hoping that his
hand would be out of sight when the flash occurred.
He failed on that one; but he succeeded quite well on
another occasion.
Ectoplasm was called for; Nino offered to produce
it and have the ethereal substance photographed. The
camera was directed at a given spot. The flash puffed
when called for. When the plate was developed, it
showed a hazy streak of white that matched the ac-
cepted descriptions of ectoplasm.
Nino accomplished this simply, but cleverly. He
whisked a handkerchief through the air at the instant
of the flash. In quick motion, the handkerchief blurred
the plate and even left semi-transparent edges. The
ruse produced a far better brand of ectoplasm, photo-
graphically speaking, than that rendered by mediums
specializing in the ectoplastic field.
In all his activities, Nino Pecoraro was eccentric.
This phase of his behavior impressed itself. He wanted
money; at the same time, he took no small pride in
his accomplishments. His contempt for bonds indicated
that he felt confidence in his ability at self-release.
He gave some indications of self-hypnosis; and fre-
quently threw himself into violent fits, not only when
he needed to ruin a chair; but when sitters insisted
upon entering the cabinet with him. On more than
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one occasion, Nino hurled himself — chair and all — in
the direction of an investigator who was too close at
hand.
In the course of my investigations, I found Nino
to be somewhat friendly. He seemed pleased when I
attended his seances; not only because he may have
looked forward to another try for the prize award, but
because he also wanted to impress me with his ability.
One night, when Nino was to give a seance in
Brooklyn, he wanted me to bring along a pair of hand-
cuffs; because he had heard it said that no one could
slip such devices from his wrists. Houdini had often
emphasized that point. I sensed that Nino wanted to
try the supposedly impossible. This fitted with my
opinion that his work was purely physical. I brought
the handcuffs.
Nino actually slipped them at the seance. It was a
give-away, for his wrists and hands were mauled; and
I was criticized for brutality, despite the fact that I
had brought the cuffs at Nino’s own request. Nino
himself was grateful for the favor. He proved that on
the way to the seance.
It was during the ride that Nino staged the un-
expected. He was not in a trance; he spoke in his own
voice. He said:
“To-night, I am going to exposa spiritualism. Exposa
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the whola damn business. I am a greata medium; but
wat I get? Not even a packa of cigarettes!”
Frankly, I was amazed. More so than I had ever been
by any of Nino’s various trance voices. I hardly be-
lieved that the medium’s words were real. But Nino
continued his insistence.
At the seance, he talked against spiritualism. He let
us see him slip the handcuffs. He persisted in his state-
ment that he was through. Something had soured
Nino against the psychic game.
Nino Pecoraro was ready to deliver the confession
that rocked the material realm of fraudulent medium-
ship.
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CHAPTER X
THE PECORARO CONFESSIONS
On April 8, 1931, Nino Pecoraro
joined me on Broadway. It was the middle of the after-
noon; but he was attired in tuxedo. He wanted to be
at his best; for he was to gain front page publicity.
Accompanying us were reporters and newspaper
camera men. We had arranged the time and place.
Nino was ready to recount his past and deliver a com-
plete expose of the methods that he had used to ac-
complish his manifestations.
That day, Nino told his story. It was a complete
confession of his career as a medium.
— (119)—
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Born and raised in Italy, Nino had held an aversion
to military duty. When the time approached for him
to join the army, he became eccentric. He found him-
self capable of assuming a trancelike condition, ac-
companied by wild spasms.
By his own confession Nino was confined in an
insane asylum.
There, he continued his mad fits. He was bound;
he broke loose. It pleased him. He acted wilder than
before, so they would place him in a strait-jacket and
give him the chance to escape from it.
He gained his chance. He released himself from the
jacket.
His case became a puzzling one. He showed him-
self more rational. He was finally declared to be
neither insane nor fit for military service.
Soon afterward, Nino came to America.
Nino had heard of two persons who impressed him.
One was Eusapia Palladino. She, like Nino, was an
Italian who had possessed unusual gifts. She had come
to America and had gained fame through giving spirit
seances. The other was Harry Houdini. He had won
fame and fortune through his ability at releasing him-
self from restraints.
Originally, Nino had told me that one night Palla-
dino had come to him in a vision and had told him
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— (121)—
to carry on her work. She had promised then to al-
ways do his bidding; that was why she had become
his spirit control.
His confession changed that story. He had chosen
Palladino merely as a prototype. He decided to give
private seances according to ideas of his own. During
them, he wanted to surpass Houdini. He had no
knowledge of Houdini’s methods; he thought that
they consisted chiefly of brute force. Wiry and strong,
Nino felt able to get out of anything. That was why
he depended upon ingenuity in preference to set
method.
Nino began with seances in the Italian districts. He
gained a manager who finally solicited seances for
regular spiritualistic circles. Nino came into the lime-
light.
Some of the early seances were profitable; but they
were irregular. Nino wanted a larger field and sought
it. His work as a medium served to increase his eccen-
tricities. For a while, he became self-deluded.
It was not a desire to dupe people that started him
as a medium. Nino wanted to be the center of a show.
He wanted to gain praise for his extraordinary abili-
ties. The sitters who came to the seance rooms desired
manifestations, so Nino produced them. Yet in his own
mind, it was still a batde of wits — his ability to escape
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—(122)—
from almost any form of binding and to return to his
bonds without discovery.
This accounted for the odd development of Nino’s
seances. So far as his releases were concerned, they
were the result of amazing cleverness; but his mani-
festations— when released — were simple and limited.
His career might have been a short one, but for the
abundance of imagination in the minds of the ardent
Spiritualists who attended his seances.
Seeing his simple manifestations treated as remark-
able phenomena, Nino began to wonder at himself.
He could not explain his natural ability for escaping
from bonds. When surrounded by intelligent persons
who praised him for his mediumship, Nino began to
believe that these people were right!
In describing his seance for Sir Conan Doyle, Nino
explained all that had happened. Confined behind the
curtains, he managed to extricate himself from the
cords and wires without difficulty. He could sense the
expectations of the people beyond the curtains. He be-
gan to move the curtains. He heard audible gasps —
Sir Arthur and others declaring that they could feel
the breeze that was moving the curtains. Nino seized
the table with one black-mittened hand. He made the
table move up and down, finally tossing it from the
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THE PECORARO CONFESSIONS —(123)—
curtains. This caused profound amazement, his hand
being invisible in the dim light.
A natural mimic, Nino had used falsetto cries back
in the days when he had bewildered the army exami-
ners in Italy. He used that same voice to talk in Italian,
announcing himself as Palladino.
Pulling a hand free from its mitten, Nino thrust
his arm through the curtains and called out in broken
English, declaring himself to be a spirit. According to
Nino, Conan Doyle grasped his hand and was positive
that he had felt the grip of his dead son.
More curtain rustling; getting back into bonds; the
faking of a trance condition — these completed the
manifestations. But he had his own opinion of Doyle’s
description of the occurrence. Nino described the
happening in this fashion:
“Damn fool, taka my han’ — thinka it dead son —
that nota my bizness. When I shaka da curtain, he
think it a spirit breeze.”
It was asserted in England that Nino had never held
a seance with Conan Doyle. Nino declared that he did ;
that he hoaxed Doyle. In his book, “Our American
Adventure,” Doyle gives the details of a seance with
Pecoraro. It was in that book that Doyle declared: “I
thought the youth was a true medium and might de-
velop into something remarkable.”
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Nino did a complete job with his expose. He de-
scribed every detail of his seances, posed for still pic-
tures and motion shots for news reels. That done, he
dictated and signed a complete confession of his past.
His chief reason for the confession appeared to be
a disappointment because his hopes had not been real-
ized. He had believed that all mediums were fakers.
His own experience proved it to his complete satisfac-
tion. Spiritualists had so marveled at Nino’s seances
that he had found himself in a mental whirl. “They
driva me craze — ” was the manner in which he ex-
pressed it.
Other mediums had made money. Nino was con-
vinced that his work was superior to theirs. Neverthe-
less, he had subsisted on comparatively little. He had
made the endeavor to capture the Science and Inven-
tion award because he knew it would bring him cash
as well as prestige.
The name of Houdini had come to play such an
important part in Nino’s affairs that he had decided
he had been mistaken in his choice of a career. The
psychic field was too limited. He no longer wanted to
be a second Palladino; he wanted to become a suc-
cessor to Houdini. He pictured himself touring in
vaudeville, presenting an escape act.
Houdini had exposed the fakery in Spiritualism and
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THE PECORARO CONFESSIONS
-0*5)-
had gained his fame through an honest presentation
of ability in the field of escapes. Hence Nino regarded
his confession — through its expose of fraudulent medi-
umship — to be the first step necessary in his newly
planned career.
Nino left no detail uncovered. He exposed every
device, including the handkerchief wave that had pro-
duced a photograph of supposed ectoplasm.
The effect of Nino’s confession was an immediate
excitement among Spiritualistic believers. Some de-
nounced Nino as a faker of the lowest type. Others
declared that his confession had been forced. Some
insisted that he was too ignorant to recognize the
powers that he actually possessed. A few sought to
repudiate him entirely by declaring that they had never
heard of him.
Among these was Lady Doyle, who resented the
introduction of the late Sir Arthur’s name. However,
newspaper clippings and Doyle’s own writings stood
as absolute proof that Sir Arthur had witnessed Nino’s
seance and had been impressed by it.
It was a perfect case against Spiritualism, that
brought forth as never before the hysteria and self-
delusion that surround ardent believers. Nevertheless,
certain Spiritualists were not content with the dis-
credit that had been cast upon their pet beliefs. They
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introduced new measures to further prove the simple-
mindedness that so frequently possesses them.
They bribed Nino into a repudiation of his confes-
sion. That has been a regular trick of psychic believers
for many years. Any self-confessed medium will re-
cant under proper persuasion. Nino again came under
the influence of the believers. They harped upon his
genuine powers. They promised to reinstate him; to
arrange wonderful seances which would bring him
pecuniary return.
Extravagant promises, like real ghosts, invariably
fail to materialize. With Nino’s repudiation in the bag,
his sponsors let him down cold. Nino acted accord-
ingly. He sought me again; and told the truth con-
cerning his repudiation.
Thus Nino Pecoraro not only ended his own medi-
umship, but revealed the conniving methods of those
who champion the so-called psychic science. Backed
with sworn affidavits, supplemented by direct state-
ments to newspapermen, doubled in its effectiveness
by the hysterical outbursts of Spiritualists themselves,
the confession of Nino Pecoraro stands as an unyield-
ing proof that true spirit manifestations do not exist.
With all the press notices that had included his
name, Nino felt confident of gaining success as an
escape artist. He did not realize that he lacked per-
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THE SPIRIT OF A DROWNED
MAN SPEAKS.
Medium lifts trumpet with teeth into
tub of water. Blows through trumpet
producing gurgling sound.
Medium with hands and feet con-
trolled employs this method for
manipulating trumpet in darkened
/ L Picks up V
trumpet with teeth-\ ^
Swings trumpet around
and into crook of arm—
Medium by slight whisper undetect- A
able at short distance, produces am- 'S
yplified sound in trumpet, which spectator^
i recognizes as a spirit voice. J
Rests trumpet in crook of arm and
now has mouth free with which to
speak.
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Nino Pecoraro Bound before Entering Cabinet.
So-called Ectoplasm Produced by Waving Paper in
of Camera. (Method Admitted by Pecoraro.)
Spirit Photo Produced by Pecora
Front touched after
Spirit Signature of Enrico Carus
Pecoraro’s Seance. Completely Un
Other Names Are the Sig
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iro. Negative Admitted Re-
Seance.
o and Houdini Produced at
like Genuine Signature. The
natures of Witnesses.
Spirit Photograph Taken under Test Conditions at Pecoraro’s
Seance. Likewise Admitted to the Author to Have Been a
Retouched Negative.
Nino Pecoraro Genuinely Exhausted after One of His
Seances. Note That Many of the Bindings Are Disturbed.
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Jftr* York City,
fhureday,
A rr«) I, V 31.
To Whoa 1% May Conc^rnt-
I, Hino Feco p#po, previously known a* a
spirit nedlua for the papt eleven year*, hereby declare that X
para anally possess the payohle ability of liberating ayaelf froa
all aorta of bindings , and various fam* of rentralnt, thoroby
enabling so to freely use my body to do all aorta of things, aueto
&a message writing, trumpet blowing;, rowing of objects, writing af
messages upon paper, and creating all aorta of phenoEenal effects.
I heraby state that 1 have, in the part,
aa In the present, been able to do these thing" FFPSOKALT.Y, Mid
ABROLTOlLY TJKAmSTTfn, and thereby atata that in as m»h aa I do
those thirds# irrcntJ*, a ad aa fftrtfffcU , I have
newer been aided by AKY RPIfTTf?, nor any CPTR!T?TAT,TSTie force
Whatsoever.
I therefore do not believe that AT1YOWF
ever eaw a genuine spirit. In ae ruch as in all of the eleven
years of sy experience, I JfllYKP SAW Olff!, and T)C- NOT believe
that anyone ele© ever ear a spirit.
I pern ona’ly produced WrnrrmjnW that
wae ever seen by *sy lirccatigatora, without any &'!^7.fr*'\LW’?TG
aid What eo ever. ' //
Signed by
Witnessed b;
Original Confession of Nino Pecoraro Made before Dunninger and
Witnessed by Representatives of the Press.
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THE PECORARO CONFESSIONS
—(127)—
sonality, showmanship and business ability. Had he
possessed those, he would have coined money as a
medium.
He was due for failure, also, as a performer of escape
tricks. He made a few appearances at some smaller
New York theaters; but his liberation act lacked the
effectiveness it needed.
Nino was much freer of mind, however. With his
double confession, he had completely finished his
chances of returning to the psychic racket. I had an-
nounced my true opinion; namely, that as an exponent
of self-extrication, Nino possessed unique qualifica-
tions.
He liked publicity; he was pleased when he saw his
picture in the newspapers. He wore a huge grin in
the photographs where he exposed the mediumistic
stunts. But he could not understand why his perform-
ances were not in immediate demand.
An instance of Nino’s simplicity in reasoning oc-
curred some time afterward. He came to me with his
usual complaint. He wanted success and had not
gained it.
“Dunninge,” said Nino, “I am a greata medium.”
I agreed with him.
“Telia me,” he inquired, “how can da paper say
other more greata than Nino ?”
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That expressed, he asked:
“Dunninge, you do somet’ing for me?”
I asked him to continue with the request. Nino
picked up paper and pen.
“You writa here what great man Nino is. You say
how Nino get out of ropes, how he get out of any-
thing”
I reminded Nino that I had already made public
statements as to his capability at escapes. He shook his
head. He apparently reasoned that people did not be-
lieve. I asked him what he wanted in the way of a
statement. He began to roll one off, voicing the most
extravagant claims regarding himself.
I had it taken on the typewriter. It covered pages;
and as it progressed, I saw that such a statement from
any one would be preposterous. But I knew also that
Nino would begin his argument all over again, if noth-
ing was done about it.
Nino’s jargon was put into reasonable English on
the machine. After it was finished, Nino read it with
a series of satisfied nods and declared:
“Good.”
I had picked up the pen. I handed it to Nino and
said:
“There is your testimonial. Sign it.”
Nino signed the document, pocketed it and de-
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THE PECORARO CONFESSIONS
— (im-
parted. A few days later, he returned. He produced the
testimonial which recounted all his potential exploits
and announced:
“Dunninge, they read this. They laugh and say this
is no good. They say you no sign it.”
“Nino,” I asked, “you did all these things, didn’t
you?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t do them, did I?”
“No.”
“Then how can I sign my name to what you did?”
Nino folded the pages and put them back in his
pocket.
“You right,” he affirmed. “You right. Maybe they
musta be craze.”
Among his claims, Nino declared himself to be
greater than Houdini ever was. He expressed it thus:
“You tie me up. I get out — then I get in. Houdeen,
he get out — no get in. Nino do this. Nino better than
Houdeen.”
Nino also recounted one of the many incidents that
made it impossible for him to pursue his new career.
Some one in Philadelphia had offered him one hun-
dred dollars to be put in a steel cage; then come out in
full view and thus prove that it could be done by
trickery.
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“I go to Philadelphia two times,” Nino told me.
“No money. I say, ‘Where is da hundred dollar?’ They
say: ‘First you do da phenomena.’ I say: ‘First I get
da money.’ Should I show them trick for nothing?”
It was this lack of trust in any business arrangement
that prevented Nino from putting on his escapes pub-
licly. Even under management, he was apt to protest
any ordinary requirement, such as a try-out perform-
ance.
Nino dropped his theatrical plans not long after he
had abandoned his fraudulent mediumship. The last
that I heard of him, he had gone back to Italy.
In Nino Pecoraro’s confession, we have ample proof
of an old story; that of the professional medium
whose career is furthered not by inborn dishonesty;
but through absolute ignorance, sponsored and pro-
moted by the eagerness of persons anxious to be de-
ceived. Just as the crafty fakers imbue dupes with
belief; so do the believers drag bewildered nonentities
from obscurity and praise them as real mediums.
There are many odd paths to mediumship; and
others beside Nino Pecoraro have followed them. His
case is one that will stand out as permanent proof of
this truth.
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CHAPTER XI
MY STANCES WITH FRANK DECKER
In January, 1930, when Frank Decker,
a society medium in New York, offered to try for
the prize money backed by the Science and Invention
Magazine, I was still chairman of their committee for
Psychical Research. The prize however had dwindled
to $21,000. The withdrawal of Mrs. Houdini’s contri-
bution had reduced it from $31,000, the sum that Nino
Pecoraro had hoped to win in 1928. By the terms of the
prize offer Mr. Decker couldn’t have the money if I
could duplicate the physical phenomena.
— (131)—
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The reason for confining the field of activity to the
purely physical is logical, since it is possible to bring
into a seance (in one’s head) information for mental
demonstration, whether gotten by direct inquiry or by
mind reading. Genuine physical manifestations, on the
other hand, cannot be prepared beforehand.
The test was held in a fourth floor room of the Gov-
ernor Clinton Hotel in New York City at 11 P.M. As
usual the curtains were drawn and light chinks shut
out and the door locked. The hands of the medium
were held by two members of the press. Each held one
arm and leg during the seance. Trumpets were placed
within the circle.
Every medium has his own system of procedure and
Mr. Decker requested that the group, about fifty in
number, sing a hymn such as “Glory, glory, Halle-
luiah.” He directed also if a spirit touched anyone to
be sure and say “Thank you!”
As the company hummed the hymn trumpets began
falling about the floor. A voice here and there remarked
that something had touched them.
Suddenly a voice, high, falsetto, piped,
“This is Patsy.”
Patsy was greeted very cordially by the audience.
People asked questions. Patsy called out the first names
of many of the audience and told them their dead
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grandmothers were asking for them and sending their
love. Patsy named one man’s grandmother by her full
name and also told him that his brother now in China
had recently met with an accident but was recovering.
One member of our group for that evening was
Emile Rousseau, a former member of the Metropolitan
Opera Co. The other control of Mr. Decker’s whis-
pered hoarsely, as Enrico Caruso began to sing through
the lungs and mouth of Mr. Rousseau, that Emile was
being directed by Caruso. Needless to say the message
had come through from the spirit world that Mr.
Rousseau was requested to sing. Mr. Rousseau had been
for some time an adherent of the spiritualistic cult.
The test was over. The lights came on and I prepared
to take over the situation. A newspaper woman held
one of my arms and legs and Mr. Decker took a grape-
vine twist on the other arm and leg.
Lights out.
In five minutes, by natural means, I managed to
make the trumpets act in frisky fashion and saw to it
that everyone in the front row was touched. Al-
though Decker had been quite correct in his informa-
tion to his audience there was no requirement in the
offer that correct readings also be duplicated. As it was,
when my demonstration was finished Decker said that
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I must have mediumistic powers. His remark reminded
me that Charles Davenport, Nino Pecoraro’s manager,
— before Nino had confessed his fraud to the world —
also claimed that I was a medium after I had duplicated
Nino’s performances.
The newspaper jury decided that Mr. Decker was
not entided to the prize. I learned later that the reporter
whose brother had been in China discovered that a
business associate of his brother was a regular client of
mediums. Rousseau confided to friends, without real-
izing the implications of the remark, that his voice had
always been judged similar in type to Caruso’s when
they had been in the Metropolitan together. This in-
formation does not reflect upon Decker’s sincerity. It
simply credits him with unusual mental capabilities
which can not be classed as the results of spirit guid-
ance.
In April of 1930 Mr. Decker expressed a desire to
try for the award again. This time he asked for more
difficult conditions for both of us.
The challenge was accepted and resulted in a four-
hour competitive seance in the Ambassador Hotel. The
arrangements were interesting so they should be de-
scribed in some detail.
A wooden box, two feet square and four feet high,
with a sloping front similar to the type used for ship-
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ping pianos, was built to order and inspected thor-
oughly by the press. Bound hand and foot and in
the nude Mr. Decker entered the cabinet first. The
top was fashioned of two semicircular pieces, fitted
closely about the neck. These were nailed and screwed
down, precluding the possibility of any manipulations
through the opening.
While the room was darkened a group composed
mostly of members of the press awaited developments.
They came. Decker and his spirits caused two trumpets
to topple from a table placed some distance in front
of the cabinet; tambourines tinkled; handkerchiefs
swished against sleeves.
Mr. Decker’s spirits also told who among the audi-
ence had bought stock, how much money one man had
remaining after the party he had attended the night
before and several other little personal items.
Having performed his part of the bargain Mr. Decker
was extricated from the box, clothed, and it became my
turn. Following the exact program to which he had
submitted, I in turn entered the box. The neck pieces
were adjusted and fastened securely. Again the room
was in darkness. I reproduced all the physical phe-
nomena originally presented by the medium except
that I managed to overthrow three trumpets instead of
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only two. This time I threw in a little information, too.
I exposed one man who had forgotten the name of his
first wife. Incidentally I might mention that it was
agreed by the press that the tests just undergone by us
were more difficult than the famous “Margery” had
been asked to undergo.
Since I had met the requirements in duplicating the
manifestations in a purely physical way, Mr. Decker
was eliminated as a legitimate claimant for the $21,000.
For seven months there were no further develop-
ments. But in November, during a seance at the dark-
ened headquarters of the Spiritual and Ethical Society,
304 W. 91st street, Mr. John O’Neill of the Brooklyn
Daily Eagle was very much impressed by an experi-
ment in levitation. Mr. O’Neill is a man for whom I
have the highest regard for he is fair-minded and
balanced in his attitude toward the whole question.
However, the very fact that he was impressed by this
demonstration made me wish that he should have both
possibilities presented to him. He had discovered the
powers of the believers. I offered him an opportunity to
find out if the powers of those who believe in the super-
normal but never the supernatural were not as great.
On Nov. 6th Mr. O’Neill’s description of the seance
appeared in the Eagle. On Nov. 7th I suggested that I
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come to the Eagle office and duplicate in broad daylight
what O’Neill had experienced in the dark. Mr. Decker
proved to be the person I was challenging. Being an
excellent sport, he accepted. The seance was arranged
for a future date.
On November 17th Mr. Decker was forced to call off
the contest although Mr. O’Neill had enthusiastically
arranged to have a group of eminent research scientists
and engineers to watch the two of us at work. Mr.
Decker’s hands were tied. Although I lost my temper
at the time and accused Mr. Decker of wriggling out
of the affair it became obvious when Mrs. Helen Wells,
president of the Spiritual and Ethical Society, pro-
claimed her sentiments in the matter, that since Mr.
Decker was under contract with them at the time and
they were paying his salary, he could do nothing. Mrs.
Wells announced her decision as follows:
“We do not approve of Mr. Decker taking part in
any test with Dunninger. He took part in two previous
tests with Dunninger and they have been unfair. My
spirit guides advise against permitting him to have
anything to do with Dunninger and we have no in-
tention of going contrary to what our guides advise.”
This message must have come from spirit guides, for,
until Mrs. Wells suggested unfair tactics on my part no
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-(138)-
one in the groups at the two seances — including
Decker himself — had even suggested such a thing.
On November 18th the Society announced a change
of decision. Whether or not the “guides” were responsi-
ble, or simply over-ruled, the fact stands that the soci-
ety offered the use of their rooms for a test. I agreed
immediately although the rooms did not meet require-
ments for test conditions. I said I would duplicate any
performance Mr. Decker chose to put on in the spiritu-
alistic rooms.
On Mr. Decker’s receiving this information he pro-
tested that he had no intention of producing any phe-
nomena; but that I would be expected to duplicate the
previous performance in levitation, as I had promised
to do in the Eagle office. Since I had not been present
at the levitation and did not know except through Mr.
O’Neill’s description what had happened this was un-
reasonable, as Mr. O’Neill agreed. He told Mr. Decker
that he could offer no valid objection to producing
phenomena for me to duplicate. Then Mr. Decker ex-
plained himself — and it was a legitimate explanation.
The society permitted him no other choice. Any change
in the plan he oudined would cause him to lose his
job. When I was told of the situation by O’Neill I of-
fered to buy the contract from the Spiritual and Ethical
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Society and pay Decker’s salary due on the balance of
said contract. I offered a check for the lump sum.
There was no word from Decker. Thinking it over
afterward it seemed perhaps a bit too much to expect
of him. If he had accepted my offer it would have ap-
peared disloyal to his chosen group. So we did not
challenge him on the point.
The next year, on Jan. 30, 1931, our belief in Mr.
Decker was justified. No longer under contract on
that date a seance was arranged at the Crescent Ath-
letic Club. Decker said that the spirits told him Dun-
ninger would be convinced and that Dunninger some-
times used psychic force in his own performances.
I naturally disclaimed any such powers. Mr. Decker’s
naivete did not alter the facts — that what I do is done
by trickery and absolutely nothing else.
This seance was short and undecisive. No physical
phenomena were produced. The Lord’s prayer was re-
cited, and followed by group singing. Then came Patsy
who talked about my relatives. Patsy however, pro-
duced no visible presences. A gruff voice spoke, saying
it was Doyle and spoke of a letter written to me by him.
Nothing evidential came through later, although such
was promised by the voice. Mr. Decker was ill with
grippe and came out of his trance prematurely. But
during the seance, Decker described a “lettergram”
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which I had received from Houdini dated Dec. 14,
1923 from Little Rock. He said it had a picture in two
upper corners. Decker said the message was as fol-
lows:
“Will be in New York for a few days. Have hurt my
right leg. Regards, Houdini.”
I promised to look in my files to see if his informa-
tion was correct. The test was ended. Since no physical
phenomena were produced I was not called upon to
duplicate any. But since Mr. Decker had given out so
much information I decided to show my own ability as
a “mentalist.”
Quoting from Mr. O’Neill’s write-up of the affair,
he commented upon the apparent lack of Mr. Decker’s
physical phenomena which is the only thing eligible
for judgment in a test.
About my own exhibition he commented as follows :
“Dunninger’s exhibition was one which a medium
could well offer as evidential phenomena. He stated
later that he produced his results neither by psychic
phenomena nor sleight of hand but used ‘hypnotic
clairvoyance.’
“Dunninger is a hypnotist and it is a considerable
problem to me to determine where this line should
be drawn between what Dunninger calls mental powers
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and what spiritualists call psychic powers — the closest
approach I can make is — a difference in degree. Dun-
ninger has learned how to bring certain mental powers
under control at all times — considers these powers nor-
mal— while the spiritualists — going rather afield in try-
ing to top other powers, have almost no control over
them and sensing this lack ascribe results to super-
natural entities.”
This is a very thoughtful analysis of the subject. But
I want to point out, especially in Mr. Decker’s case,
that while I have repeatedly insisted that he does not
get his effects by spirit-help any more than I do, he has
already been credited by me as having powers also of
“hypnotic clairvoyance.” My desire to test out the spirit
evidences is not actuated by a desire to destroy any idea
of certain mental powers being impossible to man. All
I wish to emphasize is that so far physical phenomena
have not been proved genuine spirit work. There have
been abundant evidences of mental telepathy and clair-
voyance.
On February 3rd I announced in the newspapers that
I had found the Houdini Lettergram in my file; that
Decker’s rendition was nearly correct but incomplete.
I stated that the letter was misplaced in the file from
among Houdini’s papers to a place among the photo-
graphs.
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The complete letter follows:
My Dear Dunninger:
Will be back in N. Y. for a few days. Hurt my right leg.
Am laying off. Regards,
Houdini.
Don’t know your address as my address book is in N. Y.
Unfortunately Mr. Decker mistook my remark as a
reflection upon himself. He insisted that he had not re-
moved anything from my files. That was not my mean-
ing.
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CHAPTER XII
MEDICAL MED1UMSH1P
M
JL" JLedical mediumship is a deep-rooted
factor in spiritualism. From the standpoint of the me-
dium, it is profitable. It is also unsafe. This type of
spiritualistic fraud is one against which the law can
strike. Practicing medicine without a license is an
offense in itself.
There are many instances which show the prevalence
of medical mediumship. Conan Doyle once recited how
the spirit of his dead son massaged him. At a spiritu-
alistic congress some years ago, one afternoon confer-
—(143)—
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ence was devoted to “healers,” who invited sufferers
from the audience and called upon spirit aid to ease
the ailments.
As a rule, these “treatments” are handled in cagy
fashion. That fact proves that the vast majority of medi-
ums know that they are imposters. Potentially, every
medium is a “healer”; because, through contact with
spirits of all degrees, they should certainly be able to
tap sources of medical information through famous
physicians who have passed to the spirit world.
But that would force proof of psychic powers, should
the mediums come before the law. Strangely, with all
their urge to convert the world to Spiritualism, medi-
ums do not care to argue their cases in law courts,
where they would gain great publicity for their cause.
We find, therefore, that many mediums strictly avoid
giving medical advice. When consulted on the subject,
they either hedge and give evasive answers; or they tap
some spirit source and pipe through the decree that the
client should “see a physician.”
Once sure of their customers, however, there are
mediums who will privately bring medical advice from
the other world. There are others — comparatively few
in number — who go the whole route and specialize in
psychic healing. They run the risk because the game
proves worth it.
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Two medical mediums whom I investigated present
contrasts, because of their different modes of operation.
One has definite peculiarities to say the least. The
other was definitely in the fake medium racket, for he
used “materializations” to emphasize his treatments.
The first medium mentioned was W. J. Palmer. He
professed to be able to cure diseases, including “a crick
in the back” through psycho-massage. Since Palmer
called himself a medium, he warranted investigation.
On February 25, 1931, I visited Palmer; and I was ac-
companied by Allen H. Smith of the United Press.
Palmer guessed that he was under test; but it did not
embarrass him in the least. When Smith announced
that he had come for treatment, Palmer looked him
over and decided that Smith had arterio-sclerosis. Pal-
mer thought that he could cure the patient; so he
placed Smith in a straight-backed chair and stood be-
hind him.
Palmer immediately went into his trance. It resem-
bled an epileptic fit. He shivered, clapped his hands at
his sides, and whooped like an Indian. He ground his
teeth; and explained that he was under the “control”
of a spirit who had once been a dentist. Besides the
dentist, Palmer was possessed by Indians and a couple
of chemists. This assortment of guiding spirits had a
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field day. Smith was a patient subject; and when Pal-
mer began to tug his ears, to cure the arterio-sclerosis,
the patience was all that saved him. Smith said after-
ward that it felt as if Palmer had been trying to cure
him of an “open mind.”
The treatment ended, Palmer told us about his
career. He had picked up an assortment of medical
terms, none of which he fully understood, and had
gained conviction that through his whooping and
grinding, he could cure people. He insisted that all his
trance articulations came from actual “controls.”
“I used to be a farmer in Rhode Island,” asserted
Palmer, seriously. “I used to go to church Sunday
nights; and all these friends of mine would jump up
and holler how bad they were. So I left Rhode Island
and come to New York, getting me a job in the fish
business, which I wish to state I have been in fifty years,
an’ an honest man, too.
“Well, I didn’t think no more of it, when one day I
was leanin’ over my oyster board, kind of alookin’ at a
bunch of oysters when there come upon me a goofy
feelin’ an’ I see a spirit amongst the oysters. That was
the beginnin’.”
Palmer’s case was a ridiculous one. While our visit
proved that fact, the case could hardly be called an ex-
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posure. There had never been any possibility of con-
cealment.
But in contrast to the spirit-possessed oysterman, we
have the later case of Dr. Emerson Gilbert.
The law first noticed Doctor Gilbert. Rumors had
reached the police of a medium who could produce a
certain “Doctor Walker” from the spirit world. The
medium called himself Doctor Gilbert; he produced
manifestations and gave treatments in his apartment.
Through Gilbert, the spirit hands of “Doctor Walker”
had reputedly effected amazing cures.
Two policewomen, Hannah Dolan and Hannah
Moench, were sent to investigate. They called upon
Doctor Gilbert at his residence at 200 West Fifty-fourth
Street. They posed as prospective patients; Gilbert wel-
comed them and collected a fee of five dollars each, for
a reading, plus ten dollars apiece for one of “Doctor
Walker’s” treatments. Gilbert had two employes pres-
ent: one was a man who told fortunes; the other was
a registered nurse.
The procedure proved quite simple. Ushered into
the office, the patients were requested to disrobe to a
meager point of attire. They rested upon the treatment
table and awaited developments. Hannah Moench was
chosen as the first patient. Doctor Gilbert arrived, dark-
ened the room and entered a spirit cabinet. After about
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ten minutes, a gleaming figure emerged and the treat-
ment began. Since Doctor Gilbert had disappeared, it
was to be assumed that the expected apparition had
arrived.
Since Hannah Moench, as an investigator, did not
need medical attention, one moment of spiritual mas-
sage was sufficient to convince her that she had to deal
with a human being; and not a ghost. Springing from
the table, she called for detectives who were stationed
outside. They arrived; and she denounced Doctor Gil-
bert, “Doctor Walker” and the whole procedure.
The police searched the house. They netted one phos-
phorescent cheese-cloth robe and some photographs of
“Doctor Walker” in his gleaming outfit. The searchers
also located the corporeal form of Doctor Emerson Gil-
bert, who was forcibly plucked from a closet.
Gilbert was brought before Magistrate Johan J. Gold-
stein. At the hearing, the medium protested that he
was unjustly accused; and offered to prove the fact.
He testified that he had a degree of Doctor of Divinity
from Indiana State Central University.
The judge decided to give Gilbert a chance to clear
himself before final arraignment. If he could produce
a genuine ghost, matters would be reconsidered. If not,
sentence would be imposed. Gilbert finally agreed to
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the test; he was given the privilege of holding the
seance at his apartment.
The seance was arranged for March 4, 1935. I re-
ceived a request from Magistrate Goldstein that I be
present as an investigator. Newspaper reporters were
also invited.
Upon the evening stated, I arrived and found my
path to the apartment opposed. Members of the Rev-
erend Doctor’s flock had come to see justice done; and
they seemed ready to aid justice by creating a dis-
turbance outside. I finally forced my way into the
apartment; only to be challenged by Gilbert. The
medium was bitter at what he was pleased to call my
“disturbing presence.”
I assured Gilbert that I had attended many seances;
and had officiated when other mediums had attempted
demonstrations of phenomena; but that never before
had this criticism been directed against me. The
magistrate insisted that I remain.
Doctor Gilbert repaired sulkily to his cabinet. He
spent thirty minutes in that receptacle and produced
only silence. He emerged in a huff and declared that
there were too many conflicting elements. The magis-
trate, realizing the large number of persons present, de-
cided to give Gilbert another chance.
The medium had an attorney present. I conferred
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with the lawyer and the magistrate. I stated that if Doc-
tor Gilbert could produce physical phenomena which I
could not duplicate by scientific means, he would be
eligible for an award of ten thousand dollars.
I stipulated that the seance should be held in a hotel
room, agreeable to both parties; that the medium could
have a cabinet formed by a curtain that produced a tri-
angular recess in a blank corner of the room. I added
other provisos: the medium’s hands and feet to be held;
and photographs to be taken at the medium’s discre-
tion. The affair was to be a test seance.
This offered great opportunity for a medium, if actu-
ally genuine. It gave Gilbert a chance to clear himself,
to collect ten thousand dollars and advance the cause
of Spiritualism. He heard the terms and consented to
undertake the test, with one proviso. He wanted first to
“magnetize” the room where the seance would be held.
I agreed that he could magnetize it while under ob-
servation. Gilbert’s attorney, however, seemed reluctant
to the plan; his understanding of Gilbert’s powers was
that the medium could not always produce phenomena
but had to wait until the spirits were willing to help.
So a specified time was allowed Gilbert, to set a date
for the seance. Since his spirits had so gladly helped
those who had come to him for treatment, we felt sure
that they would aid him in his own time of stress.
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In the meantime, I inspected the exhibits taken by
the police. In examining this evidence of the raid, I
noted that the photographs of “Doctor Walker” showed
the spirit in a gown that closely matched the phos-
phorescent cheese-cloth that the law had grabbed.
The time limit lapsed. Gilbert chose neither to rely
upon spirits or new cheese-cloth. He made no arrange-
ment for the demonstration; on March 19th, he was
brought before Magistrate Goldstein and he confessed
that he was a fake. He was lined fifty dollars; and
given a suspended sentence of four months in the work-
house.
Gilbert’s aids were dismissed. The medium was ad-
vised not to resume his racket. Since then, the healing
specter of “Doctor Walker” has made no reappearances.
The case of Doctor Emerson Gilbert is important be-
cause it shows the courses that the law can adopt in
dealing with such charlatans. The case, as conducted by
Magistrate Goldstein, shows the exact procedure which
the law may take in matters of this sort.
It has therefore been included as an appendix in this
volume.
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CHAPTER XIII
AROUND THE PSYCHIC CIRCLES
E
JL/very city and town in the country
is haunted — not by ghosts, but by mediums. Nightly,
they hold their hodge-podge “sittings” and take in their
gullible clients. Tales are unfolded regarding these
marvelous psychics; and those stories are repeated, with
due exaggeration. Sometimes skeptics attend such se-
ances and are somewhat startled — if not convinced — by
a few of the “revelations” that they hear.
It is impossible to handle these myriad cases by at-
tempting to expose each one individually. Their meth-
—(152)—
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AROUND THE PSYCHIC CIRCLES
— (i53)—
ods are the same: they are guessers, pumpers, and they
thrive on information. In smaller cities, they learn facts
about nearly every one in town and recognize persons
whom they are supposed to have never seen or known
of before.
In larger cities, such mediums concentrate upon their
clients and learn what other persons are likely to come
to the seances. When they lack information, they rely
upon guess-work and the statements that newcomers
let slip during the artful process of the medium’s
‘‘pumping.”
It must be remembered that a skeptic is not a quali-
fied investigator. In fact, most skeptics are entirely un-
trained in investigation. When a pronounced skeptic
is puzzled by something that occurs at a seance, it
merely gives the medium claim to cleverness; not to
any genuine ability in tapping spirit sources.
Believers always find mediums amazing. Skeptics
occasionally find them puzzling. Investigators never
discover anything at those seances other than triviality.
In the course of my investigations, I have visited
scores of “parlor” seances and have often been served
the same broth: dishwater. Occasionally, I have en-
countered persons who are attempting mediumship on
a sincere basis; persons who are devotees of Spiritualism
as a religion and who therefore attempt no trickery.
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The informative statements given by such persons are
less accurate than those of the deliberate “pumpers.”
Persons who are sincere rely upon their intuition and
hence pass many opportunities where “pumping”
would avail in the production of accurate statements.
In this chapter, I shall recount a series of visits to
practicing mediums in New York, which I made with
Joseph Cowan, a representative of the New York
Evening Journal. They give a fair idea of what may be
expected from the average seance, when fairly and im-
partially viewed.
These seances were covered carefully, noted accu-
rately and considered with open eyes as well as open
minds.
The Reverend C H , pastor of a Spiritu-
alistic Church, received Joseph Cowan and myself at
his rooms.
H called himself a psychic scientist. He charged
fifty cents a reading — in a group — and used “psychom-
etry.” One could go to perhaps fifty of these readers
and go through the same routine. Write three ques-
tions on paper, give the medium a personal object.
Hear the answers which the medium gave to the ques-
tions.
Strangely enough most of the devotees of this type
of medium when asked if their questions have been
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answered satisfactorily eagerly say that they have. Since
the answers are ambiguous and can be applied to num-
berless questions this is not surprising. They want to
believe and so they fit the answers to their wishes con-
cerning the questions.
Two skeptics like Mr. Cowan and I, however, have
a different reaction. Rev. H was no exception to
the usual medium. He replied to all our questions er-
roneously. A very poor guesser.
I have no sister; yet H assured me that although
she was extremely nervous, and on the verge of insan-
ity, I need not worry about her. It would all come out
all right.
I have not invented anything but H assured me
that my “invention” would prove profitable.
I have appeared in a couple of movie shorts exposing
fake mediums. H was sure that I was a moving
picture actor and wove a long tale about my successes.
Cowan borrowed an ancient Arabic coin from me,
to use as his “personal” contribution to the “psychom-
etrist.” Apparently, his vibrations had been transmitted
instantaneously and mine wiped off as quickly, al-
though I had carried the coin as a pocket piece for
years. Reverend H never knew the difference.
Mr. Cowan’s “poor sick aunt” would recover, despite
the fact that she was “very ill” and “quite old.” Cowan
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looked a bit quizzical when he heard that statement
from H . Afterward, Cowan assured me that if his
aunt did recover from her present condition it would
have to be through a resurrection.
The next day we called upon the Reverend M
W , who was pastor of another Spiritualistic
Church. She varied her offering slightly. She gave us
a ten minute prayer and phonographic music. Her mes-
sage reading followed. The spirits told her the answers
and she relayed them to the clients.
For fifty cents apiece, Cowan and I heard a medley
of incorrect information. Nothing of consequence was
told us. The only new piece of information we received
from the Reverend W was that spirits would not
arrive if anything were “crossed.” So Mr. Cowan was
requested to make himself less comfortable by uncross-
ing his legs.
This, to me, was merely a veiled admission that the
medium knew she was getting nowhere and needed an
alibi in order to begin a new start and have us forget
the previous misinformation. But later results were as
hopeless as the original.
It was after this seance that Cowan asked me why
so many practicing mediums called themselves “rev-
erends.” I replied that it was an old mediumistic cus-
tom. Four years later, he discovered for himself how
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it is done. A description of the amazing speed in acquir-
ing “orders” will be found later in this chapter.
We attended a seance by Madame E D . We
seated ourselves and prepared for the usual reading.
Madame started in the approved manner with a prayer.
It was simple and unaffected. So far so good. Looking
at the people around us we noticed an air of expectancy.
All faces were turned eagerly toward Madame who had
now seated herself at a piano. A short period of silence;
suddenly a lovely voice, a delightfully full voice, sang
an aria to the subdued accompaniment played by
Madame D .
Cowan and I were startled. We agreed that Madame
D possessed one of the finest operatic voices that
we had ever heard. But our greatest surprise was yet to
come. After a hushed and appreciative interval another
song, a difficult selection calling for distinguished tech-
nique and ability in control, issued from Madame’s
throat. But how strange — it was a different voice, in a
lower register. It seemed to carry behind it another per-
sonality. Cowan nodded to me with enjoyment. He was
not easily impressed but this performance had aroused
him.
Madame then returned among us and sat in a chair.
She mentioned that her two controls, Sonia and Red-
wing, had sung for us. Then the regulation readings be-
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gan. She made very little attempt to guess at her cli-
ent’s backgrounds or problems. If a thought occurred
to her she offered it for what it was worth. If it proved
incorrect she accepted it as if she felt that her develop-
ment had not yet reached a point where spirits were
able to help her sufficiently. Undoubtedly in this house
the atmosphere was different. Madame D was
sincere. Here was no trickster. Her singing, she felt,
belonged to the spirit world. It was a gift to her.
I decided to test her reactions to phenomena. I mate-
rialized the signature of Thomas A. Edison for
Madame D on the back of one of her business
cards. One of my little tricks. Her unfeigned amaze-
ment proved that I had analyzed her correctly. She
said naively: “You’re marvelous. I never saw anything
so marvelous in my life. I wish I could do that.” No
suspicion on her part that this was performed arti-
ficially. Perhaps she thought I had developed further
than she!
Since that time I have heard that Madame has be-
come a lecturer on spiritualism. This is the work she is
best fitted for. Spiritualism, to her, was a religion.
Our next visit was to Madame J A , an-
other psychometrist. She opened with prayer, ended
with a benediction. She went into her trance clasping
articles to her chest.
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Her guide was an East Indian, but Madame A
talked for herself. She rubbed her hands, snapped
her fingers and chanted: “I see alligators. Have you
ever been in the tropics?” We admitted that we had
been. Madame turned her attention to me. She assured
me that David Belasco had told her that I should be-
come a spiritualistic medium and continued with the
suggestion that since I had great psychic “forces” I
should think seriously about the matter.
The very nature of this statement indicated that
Madame A was relying upon intuition which
she regarded as some genuine gift. The Belasco inci-
dent was entirely erroneous. But it proved that Madame
A was relying upon thoughts as they came to
her.
This was proven again in the same seance. She ad-
vised Cowan to sell bonds which he never possessed
and also to get married. Cowan was already married;
his wife was actually at that very seance, but she had
come alone and had not joined us after her arrival.
But Madame A seemed to feel that she was
giving real advice. She could have found out about
Mrs. Cowan’s presence had she tried to do so. Hence,
her avoidance of any subtle questioning caused me to
classify her somewhat as I had Madame D ;
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namely, as a person who felt sincerely that she had a
genuine psychic gift.
This concluded the more important seances that I
covered with Mr. Cowan. A few years later, in Decem-
ber, 1934, Cowan learned of one Charles E. Kelso,
who titled himself Archbishop and Founder of
the Spiritual Psychic Science Church of Los Angeles,
California. Cowan was informed that for ten dollars
he could become a minister; for fifteen a Doctor of
Divinity. He took the offer. It required just ten days
for him to receive his ordination.
Checking the New York penal code, Cowan discov-
ered that a layman ordained in this manner has the
same standing and his acts the identical force and effect
of a preacher ordained in any other church.
This meant that the ten day certificate, obtained only
for money and not by virtue of study or character, per-
mitted the recipient to unite persons in marriage, to
bury the dead and baptize children, with the right to
collect money. Another cheerful, but less serious aspect,
was that he became entitled to special rates on railroads.
The California organization is generous in its scope
of activities. It describes itself as an “international, lib-
eral organization, devoted to religion, philosophy,
psychic science and astrology.”
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The ministers are encouraged to consider their func-
tions as follows: “to preach, teach, lecture, do psychic
readings, and circle readings. To give private informa-
tion on astrology, psychology, spiritual psychic science,
the Bible or any subject that will interpret the intel-
ligence and knowledge of the Spirit of God within us.”
Very noble! And the money making possibilities
practically limitless. Kelso also admits that all ordained
ministers are allowed fifty percent commission of all
fees collected from new ministerial customers.
Mr. Cowan had received a direct answer to his
earlier question as to why so many of the “mediums”
were “reverends.”
Among the numerous seance rooms that I have
visited with persons other than Mr. Cowan, was that of
Madam Tefarosa. A reporter wanted me to visit this
particular medium; so he and I made the trip together.
Perhaps it was because I wanted to try out that acting
ability so many of the mediums had mentioned as part
of my make-up, or perhaps it was because the reporter
wanted a story, and life was dull. At any rate the
evening I set out to visit Madam Tefarosa I went dis-
guised.
Madam, who was one of the ranking mediums of
the big town, was owner of a studio, done in the mod-
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ernistic manner, perfumed heavily with incense. She
called it the “Unified College of the Attuned Impulse.”
“This,” said the reporter, as we rode along, “ought
to be a honey.”
I was now Abner Brown, of Majinica, Indiana, a re-
tired hay, grain and feed merchant, seeking spiritu-
alistic culture. The young reporter was a law student
bent on the same errand.
We found upon our arrival about thirty adherents
at the meeting. Madam and they were indulging in a
conversation filled with thought waves, ectoplasm,
Conan Doyle impulses and much more of the same.
Since we professed our interest in Spiritualism,
Madam proceeded to give us a sample of a developing
class routine. She kindly offered it free of charge, since
I, as the retired merchant, had murmured that if it
didn’t cost too much to learn to be a medium I might
take a few lessons.
The lights were ordered out. A half hour of silence.
Then someone saw a green light, and someone saw
blue shadows, and someone heard whispers and thump-
ing on the floor. I saw and heard nothing. The percep-
tives were taken to another room where, according to a
returned devotee, there were flickering lights, moaning
voices and a whizzing noise.
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Since I was obviously dejected because of my failures
Madam brought out a tin horn. About a foot long.
“This,” she told me, “is a spirit trumpet. It is indis-
pensable for seances. You may have it for $5.00 if you
want it. If you place it here beside you on the floor and
listen very carefully, you may hear something this
time.”
In ten minutes I became enthusiastic. I had heard
somebody whispering inside the horn. Struggling to
maintain the role of an inquisitive and uninformed out-
lander, I picked up the trumpet and poked my finger
into it. I blew through it. Then, nasally, I remarked:
“Speerits.” Muttering to myself.
I had an inspiration. Why not amuse Madam and
the Thirty Unified Impulses? I rose and picked up
three glasses from the Tefarosa instrument table. I
looked in the horn, tilted it, and started pouring a
lovely foaming liquid from its mouth. I am sorry to
say that at this point the law student broke down and
giggled. Madam’s face was too much for him. Gravely
handing a glass of beer to Madam, who took it in a
trance, and one to the reporter, revealed now as not
quite what he seemed, I drank the third myself. Taking
a few swallows I hastily put down my glass and taking
my companion by the arm, suggested leaving — immedi-
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ately. I have often wondered what would have hap-
pened if we hadn’t.
The reporter got his story and I had a little fun. It is
so seldom that one can do sleight-of-hand tricks for so
thoroughly amazed a group. Theater audiences are
made of sterner stuff.
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CHAPTER XIV
MEDIUMS IN THE HAUPTMANN CASE
T
JL HE MOST PERNICIOUS PHASE OF SPIRITU-
alism is the direct harm that it works upon human
affairs. Fraudulent mediums have a law unto them-
selves. This is their practice of selfish quest for cash
and fame, irrespective of the detrimental effects that
they may produce upon their dupes or the world at
large.
The history of Spiritualism teems with such cases.
Guided by “spirits,” believers have gone to incredible
extremes in their conduct of business and personal af-
—(165)—
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fairs. Sometimes the “inspiration” begun by mediums
passes beyond control. A remarkable example of this
sort was the construction of the Winchester house in
California. In that instant, a vexed believer began the
perpetual construction of a huge and utterly useless
house. Wing after wing was added, until the building
occupied acres of ground. Construction ceased only
with the death of the builder.
Beneath the surface, in most cases of individual cre-
dulity lies the motivating effort of some fraudulent
medium. In their efforts to reach the heights of gran-
deur, fake psychics carry on a ceaseless quest for infor-
mation. When facts reach their knowledge, they
preserve them with the hope of convincing victims.
They divulge facts only by degrees; when “inspired”
by the “spirits.”
Mediums are consistent in this procedure. They fol-
low their game of personal gain, with no thought of
duty to society. If individuals are driven to insanity or
suicide; if the public is blinded to important facts, it
does not matter to the medium. His own purposes come
first, last, and always.
The inside stories of such campaigns are sordid; par-
ticularly when they link up with crime. Hence I shall
relate the details of an unfinished case which I inves-
tigated; one which concerns the most cruel crime that
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MEDIUMS IN THE HAUPTMANN CASE —(167)—
America has known: the kidnaping of the Lindbergh
baby.
One week after the kidnaping of the child, in
March, 1932, the Rev. Peter J. Birratella, pastor of a
spiritualistic cult, went to New Jersey. With him, he
took his wife, Mary Cerrita, a trance-medium who
gained messages when in a hypnotic condition.
Claiming psychic influence, Mary Cerrita told
authorities that the Lindbergh child was dead; that the
body would be found upon a certain height near Hope-
well. Two months later, the body was found in almost
the exact location that she had predicted.
Mary Cerrita also prophesied that a ransom letter
would be received by “Mr. Breckenbridge.” On the next
day, Colonel Breckenridge, the Lindbergh attorney,
did receive such a letter. It was addressed to “Mr.
Breckenbridge.” The name “Breckenbridge” was incor-
rect in spelling; it fitted exacdy with Mary Cerrita’s
pronunciation and prediction.
During her seance, Mary Cerrita was said to have
uttered the initials J. F. C.; these were the initials of
Dr. John F. (“Jafsie”) Condon, who at that time —
March 6, 1932 — had not publicly become connected
with the Lindbergh case.
Upon questioning her on this point she said to me:
“Yes, I saw them like a light.”
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When I further questioned her if she were quite cer-
tain what they were, she appeared somewhat uncertain
and said: “I can’t remember just what initials they
were. I think they are right, but I am not sure. I was
in trance and it is hard for me to remember.”
Some time later, the Rev. Mr. Birratella, described by
a newspaper writer as “a wiry little Italian with bushy
hair and a hard eye,” had this to say about the visit to
New Jersey:
Certainly I took Mary to New Jersey. I said to her: “You
have the truth. Tell it and you will be famous as a medium.”
But they would not listen. They arrest us — for fortune
telling. We are fined two hundred dollars, and I have not paid
back yet what I borrowed. They arrest us so they could get
our finger-prints.
It was learned later by the United Press that the
Rev. Birratella and his wife were kept under surveil-
lance after they made their startling declarations to the
New Jersey authorities.
Lost in the medley of events which concerned the
Lindbergh case, the Birratella-Cerrita episode received
none of the exploitation which the spiritualistic cultist
had expected. For a time, it held no great significance,
except as a study in matters psychic.
Viewed impartially, the statements made by Mary
Cerrita must have come from one of two sources:
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MEDIUMS IN THE HAUPTMANN CASE —(169)—
either from the inspiration that Birratella claimed; or
from human beings who knew inside facts concerning
the kidnaping of the baby.
It was more than two years later, following the arrest
of Richard Hauptmann on the charge of kidnaping,
that Rev. Birratella and Mary Cerrita crashed the front
pages that they had sought. News concerning them and
their seances began to pop; and with good reason.
Interest was centered upon the district where Haupt-
mann was trapped. One block from the filling station
where he cashed a ransom bill was the former home of
Isador Fisch, the man whom Hauptmann claimed
had given him the ransom money and where he
(Hauptmann) was reported to have spent much time.
Across the street from Fisch’s earlier residence was the
“temple” of the Rev. Peter Birratella.
Then came the revelation that Violet Sharpe, maid
in the Morrow household who killed herself at the
height of the investigation of the Lindbergh case, was
linked with the spiritualistic cult conducted by the Rev.
Birratella.
This was learned through Professor Robert L. Hec-
tor, member of a recognized spiritualistic congregation,
who said that Mary Cerrita had come to him for advice.
When asked from what source he thought Mary Cer-
rita had gained her previous information, Hector re-
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plied: “From the spirits — I’m sure of that.” The Rev.
Birratella and his wife admitted knowing Miss Sharpe,
but denied that she was a member of their “psychic”
congregation. However, a news report of January 10,
1935, gives the answer thus:
The United Press confirmed reports of Miss Sharpe’s affilia-
tion with Birratella’s group by interviewing the Rev. Birratella
in the presence of Joseph Dunninger, noted exposer of fake
spiritualists.
Quoting further from a United Press despatch, we
find an excellent summary of important circumstances
involved:
Stranger still is the location of the church of the “psychic”
group. It is directly across the street from the former home
of Isador Fisch. . . . The church is less than a block from
the filling station where the ransom note that finally trapped
Hauptmann appeared. Only a few blocks away was a speak-
easy in which Septimus Banks, Morrow butler, known to be
friendly with Miss Sharpe, spent much time. “Open meetings”
of the Rev. Birratella’s flock were held on Thursdays, Miss
Sharpe’s day off. When Miss Sharpe swallowed poison a few
days after the baby’s body was discovered, police disclosed she
had been nervous when first questioned. Had she heard the
prophecies of Mary Cerrita or had she information she feared
she might divulge, was the question arising to-day.
One odd factor of the whole case presented itself to
me. Mary Cerrita’s ability to make accurate predictions
was confined only to matters which concerned the kid-
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MEDIUMS IN THE HAUPTMANN CASE — (171)—
naping. In company with Theon Wright, United Press
stall correspondent, I visited Birratella and his wife.
We found both to be somewhat talkative. Birratella
pounded the table and declared:
“We will be on top. They would not listen — but in
two years it will all come out. Maybe less. There are
more than Hauptmann in this case.”
“How many?” we asked.
“Not more than this,” replied Birratella. He held up
four fingers. “Four — and one of them is dead.”
“Was that Fisch?”
Mary Cerrita entered the discussion following our
question.
“No, no, no,” she said, shaking her head. “Fisch had
nothing to do with it. It was a woman. She committed
suicide.”
I asked her:
“Was the woman Violet Sharpe?”
Mary shrugged her shoulders and replied with this
cryptic remark:
“If a person is not guilty, they will not commit sui-
cide.”
In seeking interviews with Peter Birratella and his
wife, we utilized tact. Newspaper men were not wel-
come at the Birratella residence. One representative of
the press had been forcibly ejected prior to our visit.
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I managed to gain Birratella’s confidence to some de-
gree. He was a dapper, mysterious looking person, well
posted on hypnotism, spiritualism, and kindred phe-
nomena.
Birratella told me that his wife was the greatest
medium in the world and that his only purpose in tak-
ing her before the authorities was to prove her powers
were psychic. He further told me that he was in posses-
sion of other information — obtained from the spirit
world, of course — but having been given a raw deal
by the police, he was not interested in divulging it.
Inasmuch as predictions made by Birratella had
proven correct so far as the Lindbergh case was con-
cerned, I was anxious to witness a seance wherein Mary
Cerrita brought through spirit knowledge under her
husband’s guidance. Mary Cerrita, a plump young
woman, had confidence in her husband’s powers as a
hypnotist and spiritualist. She said that she had gone
into a trance soon after the Lindbergh kidnaping; that
when she awoke Birratella told her that she had made
the statements which were later given to the authori-
ties.
Since my identity was not known to Birratella and
Cerrita, I managed to persuade them to deliver a sam-
ple of their powers. In a private seance, Mary Cerrita
gave me a reading that consisted generally of episodes
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MEDIUMS IN THE HAUTPMANN CASE —(173)—
that never occurred. She described an operation that I
had never experienced.
In a later seance, she told me that I had received
an arm injury. This was after she had gained oppor-
tunity to learn who I was. The arm injury was one
that I had experienced more than four years before;
but which had been heralded in front page stories
within recent months. I had instituted a damage suit;
and correctly predicted, though not through super-
natural means, the exact amount that the jury would
award me.
The fact that the arm injury bobbed up after Mary
Cerrita had opportunity to guess my identity was the
very best evidence to prove that she was not psychic.
It was the most conspicuous of recent incidents that
concerned my personal affairs. Moreover, my photo-
graph had accompanied the newspaper stories; and
could have served as the very means whereby Mary
Cerrita identified me.
Rejecting this one statement because of its definite
invalidity as a proper test, I can affirm that Mary Cer-
rita’s “facts” concerning myself were one hundred per-
cent wrong. But in the facts that pertained to the Lind-
bergh case, she appeared one hundred percent right.
Singularly, also, to my knowledge, nothing of re-
markable predictive value has ever been attributed to
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Mary Cerrita outside of events in that same case. Fur-
thermore, in the course of newspaper investigation it
was disclosed that Mary and her husband opened a
new spiritualistic church the same night the Lindbergh
baby was kidnaped. The enterprise was abandoned,
as were Mary’s trances, after their experience with the
New Jersey authorities and later arrest for fortune
telling.
Everything that they said came from the “spirits”
could have been gained from persons whom they knew.
But they reserved enough — Birratella himself stated that
he could tell more — to cover the links that they might
have held with any persons concerned. The facts con-
cerning Violet Sharpe, for instance, were not discov-
ered until long afterward.
It would be preposterous to assume that anything
psychic could be involved in Mary Cerrita’s famous
predictions. She was right in this one isolated case.
Nor can we allow that her prophecies were
merely guess-work. They were too numerous; more-
over, she proved herself a hopeless guesser in the read-
ings that she gave me.
Once the names of Hauptmann, Fisch and others
were brought into the Lindbergh case, it became ob-
vious that the Birratella-Cerrita combine had an ample
source of information in their own neighborhood.
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Photograph Taken from the Entrance of the Reverend Biratellas Spirit
Church Showing the Building Diagonally Opposite in which Isidor Fisch
Lived. Hauptmann Was a Frequent Visitor Here.
Note Gas Station at Corner Where the Ransom Bill Was Passed That
Resulted in Hauptmann’s Arrest.
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Later, a Spirit Message Is Found Written upon the Card. None of
the Bindings on the Bag Have Been Tampered With.
This Shows How the Trick Is Accomplished. The Medium Forces the
Point of a Pencil through the Coarse Fabric of the Bag and Writes
What He Chooses. The Size of the Bag Allows Ample Leeway for Any
Message.
A Sheet of Cardboard Marked for Identification by a Spectator Is Placed
Inside a Cretonne Bag.
The Bag Is Tied and Sealed and Then Is Taken Inside the Medium’s
Cabinet
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A Series of Stills Made from a Feature Motion Picture. The Illus-
tration Shows How Dunninger, in Spite of Complicated Rope Ties and
Bindings, Waves a Phosphorescent Cloth in Front of the Cabinet. It Is
Attached to the Indispensable Collapsible Reaching Rod. It Will Be
Noted the Arm of the Chair Is Removable.
The Illustration Below Shows a Daylight Seance. A Cloth Is Held in
Front of Tambourines, Bells and Trumpets Resting upon a Table Top.
The Hand at the Left Is False. The Free Hand Concealed Behind the
Cloth Manipulates the Instruments.
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There is a chance that they could have cracked the
crime wide open had they talked in mundane terms
instead of “spirit” predictions.
There is one phase of the situation that presents an
interesting speculation. Dropping the subject of where
the information came from, who — we ask — received it ?
Peter Birratella or Mary Cerrita?
The question can not be answered. Birratella states
that he heard Mary babble it while in a trance condi-
tion; therefore, he denies contact with any persons
concerned. Mary Cerrita, contrarily, claims no knowl-
edge of what she actually said while in a cataleptic
state. She relied upon Birratella’s report of her utter-
ances. Therefore, she denies personal discussion with
people who were involved in the kidnap case.
Since there is nothing that implicates either party
in the actual kidnaping, both Birratella and his wife
are securely situated. Their business of spirit communi-
cation, however, has not benefited. It has reached a
standstill due to an overabundance of unhealthy pub-
licity.
It would seem poor judgment on Birratella’s part
when he insisted upon presenting Mary Cerrita to the
New Jersey authorities. It was a back-fire at the time,
a warning better than any that the medium might have
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received from the spirit world. It required no psychic
ability for Birratella and his wife to predict trouble
for themselves. The bombshell arrived with the ar-
rest of Richard Hauptmann.
Circumstances bring us to a definite conclusion.
Had the case been less important; had Birratella and
his wife presented fewer facts; had they lived farther
from a neighborhood that later became a hot-bed of
investigation, they would have gained fame that they
might easily have used.
They would have been in a position to create a wide
circle of followers, consisting of believers who would
point with pride and listen in awe to the story of the
marvelous predictions that Mary Cerrita had gained
from communication with the spirit world.
Of such stuff are psychic circles made. Mediums
have capitalized upon publicity in the past; they will
continue to do so in the future. The Birratella case
stands out, however, as one wherein it would appear
too much of the machinery was exposed to view.
Therefore, it deserves to be recorded; that it may re-
main as a yardstick whereby other claims may be
measured. When one hears of new instances that pre-
sumably depend upon facts that the spirits alone could
know, we must remember the case of Birratella.
Sources of information are many upon the earthly
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plane. In the Birratella instance, such sources came into
the limelight. The fact that they have been kept hidden
upon other occasions is no proof that they should be
acceptable.
I profess to an “open mind” in psychic matters.
But my definition of the “open mind” is far more logi-
cal than that given by persons who believe in spiritual-
ism. They would have us accept spirit control as a
plausible explanation for anything that a medium
claims.
My viewpoint is more definite. Suppose a crime is
committed. We know that crime has been done. We
know that someone performed it. If the criminal is
never found; if the crime remains totally unsolved,
the only answer is that the perpetrator managed to
avoid discovery.
The same applies to the “wonders” performed by
mediums. Something definite occurs — be it voices,
materialization, or prediction — and that occurrence
points to a physical solution. If evidence happens to
be missing, that does not change the status of the
manifestation. Experience has shown me that in every
case where an investigation is thoroughly and com-
petently pressed, the physical solution has eventually
been gained.
Pursuing my analogy, we observe that accidental
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happenings sometimes look like crime. A case of sup-
posed arson may turn out to be a chance occurrence
of spontaneous combustion. Similarly, there are rare
psychic happenings that involve no premeditated action
by a fraudulent medium.
We do not, however, live in a world where fire con-
stantly strikes down from the sky. Nor do we inhabit
a plane that is flooded with wraiths who materialize at
call and whisper predictions into the ears of chosen
listeners.
If we did, such psychics as Peter Birratella and Mary
Cerrita would be riding in important limousines in-
stead of holding trance seances at fifty cents a throw.
Some mediums do ride in expensive cars. But the pay-
ments were provided by their physical clients. Not
through future predictions — such as stockmarket quo-
tations— provided by friendly spirits.
When speculative ventures are voiced through from
the spirit world, mediums kindly pass them to their
customers and let the latter take the chances.
The Birratella-Cerrita messages did not figure in the
trial of Richard Bruno Hauptmann. Testimony there
was restricted chiefly to witnesses who dealt in physi-
cal subjects. To bring in two evasive exponents of psy-
chic subjects might have been regarded as superfluous.
That, however, does not alter the facts so far as they
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concern the meddlesome methods of mediumship.
As it has done before; as it will do again. For psychic
fakers think little of the troubles in this world, except
as they can profit from them. Theirs is the psychic
realm of which they draw fantastic pictures, that the
deluded may believe.
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CHAPTER XV
MEDIUMS AT WORK
In the course of my spiritualistic in-
vestigations, I have visited certain pretended mediums
whose work proved unusually startling to the believers.
The explanation in each case lay in the fact that trick-
ery was almost one hundred percent present.
These were not cases of persons who felt that they
had some claim to psychic powers. They were in-
stances wherein fakery ruled. When detected, the
methods themselves proved the character of the frauds.
I am, therefore, including these cases in this single
chapter.
— (180)—
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Madam Beiderman, a supposed widow, posed as a
medium in Milwaukee. She worked without a cabinet,
seated amid her clients. When the room became pitch-
black, ghosts appeared, supposedly under the medium’s
influence.
The ghosts were floating heads that shone like vi-
sions in the darkness. Sitters thought they recognized
them as spirits of their departed friends. The floating
heads spoke, in various voices. When the seance was
over, two factors were apparent. One, that Madam
Beiderman had not left the circle; the other, that there
were no secret ways of entering the room, whereby
confederates could have joined the throng.
Although the floor was heavily carpeted, I had, how-
ever, detected footsteps by placing my ear against the
floor. Checking up on the medium’s history, I learned
facts that revealed the imposture.
Madam Beiderman was not a widow. Her husband
was a former circus ventriloquist. He appeared at the
seance room nightly, in the capacity of an ordinary
“believer.”
The spirit faces were painted, in luminous paint, on
the back of his vest. Rising from the circle, he had only
to remove his coat and turn back toward the specta-
tors. He could make the “ghosts” come and vanish as
required. He produced the uncanny vocal effects,
thanks to his ability at ventriloquism.
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One of the cleverest stunts of fake mediumship was
performed for my benefit by a slate-writing medium
who called himself Professor Kima; but who had pre-
viously gone under the name of Professor Omar. When
I called at his studio, I was ushered into a reception
room by a curious, hunchbacked attendant. After the
servant had gone, the professor arrived and invited me
into the studio itself.
For a fee of twenty-five dollars, he began his slate
writing manifestation. I examined slates and wrote my
signature upon them. The professor took each slate in
turn and laid it upon a victrola, near the table where I
was seated. Two slates alone were used of the six that
I examined. The professor placed the pair of slates
together. I tied them with my own handkerchief.
When opened, the slates showed messages, signed
by names that I had given the professor as those of
persons in the spirit world. There had been no oppor-
tunity for the professor to switch the slates or to re-
move them from my view. Nevertheless, he had, un-
wittingly, revealed his method.
Either he had no second attendant, or such a person
had taken a day off; in either event, the professor
slipped when he allowed the hunchback to usher me
into the reception room. I looked that fellow over
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very carefully; and estimated his approximate dimen-
sions.
The assistant was small enough to squeeze into the
interior of a dummy victrola. That was why the pro-
fessor had laid the marked slates upon the talking
machine. The dwarf had opened a trap beneath the
slates, as each was casually placed in its position. Hear-
ing my conversation with Professor Kima, he had
simply written messages and signed names to the un-
derside of each slate.
Madame Vesta, a Boston medium, used a similar
scheme; but with a variation. When I attended her
seance, she sat in a cabinet, bound to a chair, sur-
rounded by various musical instruments: violin, tam-
bourine, trumpet, and a large bass drum.
Soon after the curtains were closed, spirits operated
the different instruments. When the curtains were
snatched away, at intervals, the medium was seen still
bound and in a trance.
The secret of the seance was simply a midget, con-
cealed in the bass drum. Being inside the cabinet, he
had every opportunity to come from his hiding place,
for the big drum had a trap working on a double
spring. Hence he could slide out of sight again, before
the curtains were drawn open.
One of the neatest parts of this performance was the
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playing of the violin. No bow was provided with the
instrument. The spirits presumably could play with-
out a bow. The midget, accomplished as a musician,
had the needed bow with him in the bass drum.
One of the cleverest table lifting tricks that I have
witnessed was performed by a Greenwich Village me-
dium, who called herself Madame Denton. Her seance
was held in the sitting room of an old house. Two of
us seated ourselves on opposite sides of an oblong table.
While the medium remained distant, we pressed our
hands against the table top.
Suddenly, raps came from the table. They were
sharp in sound and startling. Then, despite our pres-
sure, the table began to levitate itself. It raised com-
pletely from the floor, tilted slightly at the medium’s
command; then descended. More taps were heard;
they responded to our questions. After a brief inter-
val, the seance ended.
I knew where to look for the source of the miracu-
lous proceeding. Close observation proved that my
solution was correct, although the medium did not
know that I had discovered the trickery.
The rug on the floor masked a small trap. A design
in the center of the rug was attached to the trap itself.
While we sat at the table, an assistant operated from
below. He attached a pole to the under surface of the
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trap. When he pushed the pole upward, he gave the
taps, which were sharp despite the cloth surface of
the trap.
He used the same implement for the levitation.
Powerful upward pressure raised the table. The broad
surface of the flat piece from the floor kept the table
balanced, for it came against the center of the table
and we steadied it by pressure at the ends.
Motions of the pole accounted for the tipsy behavior
of the table, which was practically clamped in its posi-
tion, thanks to our helpful pressure. After the table
had descended, the assistant added additional raps;
then drew the trap down into place.
A Cincinnati medium, called Madame Bowerman,
produced remarkable manifestations with a weight sus-
pended from the cork of a sealed bottle. This appli-
ance was prepared in the presence of myself and other
sitters. It was placed upon a table in the center of the
seance room.
As we grouped ourselves about the table, we asked
questions. Soon the spirits began to answer. They
operated the weight in the bottle. It swung back and
forth, clicking the inside. One rap meant “yes”; two
raps meant “no”; and the swinging weight always
obliged with one answer or the other.
The medium ordered the answers, by simply signal-
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ling to a confederate; for he — one of the sitters — was
the person who did the work required from the
“spirits.” He was a very inconspicuous gentleman. But
he chose the proper chair in the circle.
Beneath the rug was the old device known as a
“plate lifter.” It consisted of a rubber bulb, a rubber
tube, and a smaller, thinner bulb at the other end. The
heavy bulb was beneath the confederate’s foot; the
small one, under a table leg.
By pressing the large bulb, the confederate forced
air through the tube. It caused the table leg to rise and
fall, so slightly as to be almost imperceptible. That
produced the sway of the weight within the bottle. It
could be controlled completely by the expert effort
of the practiced confederate.
Being entirely covered by the rug, the apparatus was
unseen. Moreover, the confederate used another idea
to hide his foot motions. He wore shoes of an over-
large size. Hence he did not have to fully move his
shoe. All the foot pressure was exerted within the
heavy shoe itself.
Since I recognized two factors in the performance:
one, the ease in which the swinging weight could be
controlled with little pressure; the other, how the plate
lifter had frequently been used in pretended spookery
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of bobbing plates upon a dinner table, I naturally
formed the connection between the two.
From then on, my observation, directed at the table
and at the suspected member of the group, was suffi-
cient to give me the entire answer to the fakery.
Madame Amelia Bosworth, a medium in Pordand,
Oregon, performed a series of varied wonders during
a seance which I attended. She seated herself upon a
raised throne; then was covered with a black cloth.
Her hands and feet, however, were always in view.
Objects were placed in her lap: bells, slate, chalk.
Soon manifestations began. The bells rang. A Japanese
maid reached beneath the cloth and brought out the
slates. Messages were found upon them. Other slates
were placed beneath the cloth. The medium produced
more messages.
To the sitters, the feats seemed amazing, because the
medium’s hands were visible all the while. Naturally,
if one of her hands had been out of view, she could
easily have accomplished the wonders herself. That
was why I particularly studied Madame Bosworth’s
hands.
Had she used a dummy hand to keep in sight, the
fraud would have been obvious, for the seance room
was not dark. She had a better scheme than that. Real
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hands were the ones that we saw; but one hand did
not belong to Madame Bosworth.
A girl was stretched in the dais upon which the
throne stood. It was her hand that extended in place
of Madame’s right. The girl’s hand came up through
an arm of the throne. The cloth hung over the end of
the arm; the girl’s hand, pushing through a trap,
worked itself into view.
The nervous motions of the medium’s hands — in-
tended to indirectly convince all skeptics that the
hands were real — were the give-away that made the
explanation certain. The hands did not quite corre-
spond in their gesticulations. They indicated, time and
again, that they were hands of different persons.
A Chicago medium, Madame Brockman, claimed
the unusual ability to materialize rabbits, flowers and
doves, after both her cabinet and surroundings had
been examined. She performed while attired in a one-
piece bathing suit, which proved that she could not
have such bulky objects upon her person.
I attended one of Madame Brockman’s seances and
detected the method that she used. It was a develop-
ment of an old mediumistic trick; but she handled it
more effectively than her predecessors.
After the medium was tied to a chair in the cabinet,
a committee inspected the knots. These persons left the
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cabinet; the last to go was a woman who happened
to be a confederate. She stopped at the door of the
cabinet, just as the lecturer who introduced the me-
dium was about to draw the curtain.
Hidden by a special skirt, the woman confederate
carried a strong bag of black silk, which could be
detached by a simple tug of a supporting cord. As the
curtain closed, she released this bundle; then emerged
from the cabinet. The curtain, sweeping shut behind
her, hid the package that had been left in the cabinet.
Madame Brockman had merely to free one hand,
reach for the bag, and handle the zipper that closed
its mouth. One by one, she produced the rabbits and
doves, which began to make their prompt exit from
the curtains. The medium strewed the flowers all about
her; then tucked the flattened silk bag within her bath-
ing suit.
Replacing her hand in the ropes, she called for the
opening of the curtain. When the curtain was drawn,
Madame was seen wreathed with flowers while the
last of the live-stock followed their companions that
had previously gained egress from the cabinet.
Physical manifestations almost always denote un-
adulterated fakery on the part of the so-called medium.
Persons who believe that they have some psychic
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power may babble in voices, make raps of a minor
sort, or produce automatic drawings and writing.
But more elaborate phenomena can not be gained,
even by persons who are self-deceived. Slate writings,
materializations and the production of solid and living
objects require previous preparation. They must be
arranged with malice aforethought.
The seances which I have described are simply rep-
resentative of many others that I have attended. They
stand as examples of the trickery which has been and
is used to delude and pluck the public.
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CHAPTER XVI
WHERE THE TRUMPETS COME FROM
Q
W-rPIRIT TRUMPETS ARE MUCH LIKED BY
mediums. They form one item of paraphernalia that
can be bought ready-made and openly. Phosphorescent
cheese-cloth and click-clack table rappers must be pre-
pared secretly, in the dark of the moon. Not so the
spirit trumpet. It can be had on open market. It may
be bought by mail.
In fact, we find it listed in a mail-order catalog,
under the head of “Occult Accessories.” A recom-
mended trumpet, with three rings. In four styles:
— (191)—
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fiber at $4.00; aluminum at $4.50; nickel-silver at $5.50;
brass at $6.00.
Which is preferable? Even the advertisers do not
claim to know. They admit that some uphold the
brass and nickel-silver as having a clearer voice power.
But there are others, so the advertisement states, who
swear by aluminum; and others are pleased with the
results obtained from fiber trumpets.
All that is certain is that the maker of the trumpets
has spent years closely observing the seance rooms of
noted mediums; and he has studied the Spiritual Vi-
brations of both the Positive and Negative forces of
material and Spiritual Planes. Yes, he must know his
Trumpets; and when he says the three-section trumpet
is best, it probably must be.
The prices are not high, considering that the pur-
chaser receives a luminous ring free with the trumpet.
This band shines forth in the dark and lets every one
in the circle know the exact location of the trumpet.
It fits on the large end of the trumpet and is visible
during the entire seance.
A very nice improvement; but the advertiser does
not state something that many mediums know. That
good old luminous band can work two ways. Pulled
loose from the trumpet end and extended on a reach-
ing rod, it floats way up by the ceiling while the
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medium — the trumpet in his grasp — pipes sotto voce
messages through the helpful horn.
The advertiser probably knows nothing of this mat-
ter. It is not mentioned in the two pages of closely
crowded type that give advice on trumpet work. What
he does say is that Trumpet Mediumship is surrounded
with a great deal of mystery.
You must, says the advertiser, select your trumpet
medium and have him — or her — sit with back to the
East. Hymns will help magnetize the medium to gain
clairaudience. Of course the medium must be able to
hear by the inner or spiritual voice. That takes longer
for some persons than others, just as in music, singing
or the like — according to the advertiser.
It’s something like a telephone. That’s all. You
wouldn’t move a telephone all around the place — out
in the yard, down cellar, in the parlor. No! You want
the telephone in the best place for it. The same with
the trumpet. Learn to use it in a given place. If you
have trouble with it, burn some incense before you go
to bed. Write out what you want to know. The spirits
may talk through the trumpet after the lights are out,
or if you go to sleep too soon, they will appear in a
vision.
That’s the system for money matters, or business.
As for love affairs, it is better to burn two candles for
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an hour or so. When you go to bed, have the large
end of the trumpet near your head.
Incense and candles?
They are in the catalog. It will take you a while to
find them, for this catalog has more than five hun-
dred pages. There are more than a dozen pages ad-
vertising incense alone. Temple Incense is particularly
good. It induces the clairvoyant state at $2.00 for the
large size package; $5.00 for the extra-large size. The
catalog takes time out to include a page of daily re-
citals to be used with Temple Incense.
Oriental Incense comes in an extra-large size pack-
age for $4.75. It is high-grade and slow-burning. It
works well with Invocations and Occult Rites of the
Orient. In addition, for $5.50, the Mystic Rites Incense
is on the market. It is a private brand; with dreamy,
Oriental odor. It is good to burn when taking exer-
cises for the development of Higher Spiritual Powers.
Black Incense, a dead-black compound, is the kind
that is always used by those who practice the Rituals
of Black Magic. Then there is the brand known as
The Master’s Oriental Incense; and another compound
of Ceremonial Incense with secret preparations that
were used by those old Arabian Chemists. ... It
makes an exquisite suffumigation, so the page adver-
tisement informs us.
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A leering face glares from the catalog. It represents
a Black Magic Incense Burner, stated to be of hideous
appearance, with which we agree. The catalog says
that it is shocking and dreadful to look at. That, ac-
cording to the Old Ancients is to drive away Evil In-
fluences. The Old Ancients are not quoted, of course.
The catalog specifies that they claimed it, so it is said.
A belief prevailed among the Ancients to that effect.
In fact, something is written down in an Ancient
Manuscript to support it.
The incense burner, as depicted, has a rather horsey
look; tusks add adornment to its equine teeth; and
it is shaggily maned and bearded; all finished, as ad-
vertised, in Oriental bronze. We are informed that
when black incense is used in this burner, a magic
wand is also essential. In fact, to quote the catalog,
persons have paid $50, $100, and as high as $250 to
people who claimed they could remove an Evil Influ-
ence and drive away an Evil Spirit.
After a page of chat on this subject, the famous
French polished wand is ballyhooed. It is a useful
article, being sometimes spoken of as a Mysterious
Wand, Destroying or Blasting Wand; being ebony
black colored, French polished and tapering, it usually
sells for $5.00. This brings us back to the Incense
Burner, which represents $6.00 in value. But the com-
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bination is being sold at a very low price because there
are hundreds of deserving people who wish something
which they can use as protection against Evil Spirits,
Enemies and Bad Influences. So the knock-down price
— in black type — is $5.50. With a reminder that you
can purchase a box of Black Incense at the same time.
There are other incense burners listed on the suc-
ceeding pages; and then we come to candles, which
are introduced by a half-tone illustration of a hand
materializing from a candle; and, in turn, holding
another candle which is burning at both ends.
This picture, referred to as a “ materialized hand” has
an inner or allegorical meaning. Since we see that a
candle can burn at both ends, we know that life exists
both in spirit and material worlds. The talk turns to a
Hypnotic Brand of Invocation Candles. We learn that
the Hindu Hypnotist is a Soul who uses the right kind
of candles. They come in boxes, at $2.25 a dozen. Two
styles: Oriental Yellow and Pure White. One for male
subjects; the other for female.
Hindus, when they study hypnotism, usually sit in
seclusion burning candles. So we are told, at least.
That is why Western hypnotists do not come up to
Hindus. Buy plenty of candles; burn a few dozen.
Such is the inference. Of course, there are candles of
divers colors — all listed in the catalog — for other pur-
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poses. All sold by the dozen. Then come candle-sticks,
the natural accessory.
After that, Gazing Crystals. They run at various
prices; they have stands, or brass crystal holders (ex-
tra); and are amplified by the use of a Hindu Magic
Mirror, listed later in the catalog.
A person inclined to levity might remark that all
the purchaser now needs is a Hindu costume. Quite
true. The catalog is ready to supply it. Page 234 offers
a complete rig: tunic, turban and girdle of silk. With
these are provided a star and crescent pin for the pur-
ple tunic; and a pin of sparkling brilliants for the
turban. Total price, $30. To soften this, a free premium
is added: candles, incense, burner and Oriental per-
fume with which to anoint the tunic. These premiums
are valued at $25 ; but they are a gift to those who buy
the Hindu togs.
Without invocation of spirits; in fact, with practi-
cally no effort, one can protect himself mightily by
purchasing other items in this catalog. The best bet
for the uninitiated appears to be a talismanic ring. Here,
also, is room for choice, with rings running from a
few dollars up to much higher prices.
Each ring has a virtue all its own. There is the
Coventry Ring, a famous talisman of the Fifteenth
Century. Next, the Ancient Pentagram Ring, with a
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five pointed star engraved upon it. The Swastika Ring
is a good old reliable talisman. It appears to have high
standing in India, where it “is liked by the banking
and moneyed class.” But no one should be without
the Egyptian Signet and Seal Talisman Ring. This is
made from virgin gold, exclusively for occult students.
It is supposed to preserve its wearer against ill luck
and evil influences.
Having equipped all four fingers of the left hand,
we consider the right. The King Solomon Ring, with
its Chaldaic inscription stands as a reminder to the
wearer that no matter what his troubles and difficul-
ties may be, they will soon pass away. The inscription
on the ring means: “This Shall Also Pass.”
Next in line is the Three Headed Snake Ring. This
is the sacred ring of the Magi, the ring of strength.
The Ancients, being fond of Divination, were wont
to place confidence and belief in this particular type of
ring. But there is another Ancient Talisman Ring that
must not be forgotten. According to a work on Cere-
monial Magic, this ring gives invisibility, even to the
eyes of the genii. It has to be used from finger to finger
during the ritual, while the possessor recites the magic
words: “Benatir, Carakau, Dedos, Entinarmi.”
Last for the right hand is the Chinese Good Luck
Ring. It puts its wearers “in the money.” Stage stars
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have found it lucky; and one purchaser has testified
that a Chinese Spirit visited him in a dream because
he wore the ring. This chap has a hunch that wearers
of the Chinese Rings might be lucky enough to have
an Oriental Guide on their constant trail.
One thing is certain. Any one who buys the eight
rings mentioned and wears four on each hand may
find himself fortunate in combat. Brass knuckles
would be unnecessary to fists well-weighted with these
talismans.
The main function of this bulky catalog is to intro-
duce Occult and Spiritual Books. Most of the talismans
are listed in the later pages, giving preference to the
book lists. Three pages are devoted to emphasizing the
importance of printing one’s name and address plainly;
not surprising, when one considers the mental caliber
of some of the customers to whom the catalog would
appeal.
It is puzzling, though, to learn that this mail order
house would ever be troubled about reading names
and addresses. It boasts the services of “the greatest
adept living to-day.” It has stacks of crystal balls, magic
mirrors and spirit trumpets, always on hand. One
would suppose that even a shipping clerk could be
easily trained to get a spirit answer when stumped with
a scribbled name and address.
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One of the books sold is called the “Old Book of
Magic” and eight pages of the catalog are given to
reproducing illustrations from that impressive work.
One picture shows “an awful appearance of a spirit,”
which is pointing to a clock and telling a conscience-
stricken man the very hour at which his doom will
strike.
Another interesting volume is “India’s Hood Un-
veiled,” which covers the subject of Hindu Levitation.
The catalog states that all cases of levitation performed
on the stage are accomplished by using piano wire
and that throwing the hoop around the body is an
old Yankee trick — the wires are there all the while.
The real handlers of the levitation act are the Hindu
Sages. A yogi or faquir needs no piano wires.
Following that blurb appears a picture, an artist’s
rendering of “Vayusthambam,” explained as a Hindu
term meaning levitation. It shows a seated Hindu ob-
serving a girl in white, who is floating corpselike in
mid-air, with a bunch of roses resting upon her.
This happens to be a close reproduction of the old
“Levitation of Trilby” as performed by Herrmann,
the famous magician. The bunch of flowers was used
in that illusion in order to hide the supporting rod
that extended through the curtain in back of the “levi-
tated” form. Thus the advertisement that speaks of
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“genuine” Hindu levitation uses as its illustration one
of the methods which its describes as a mere trick.
The same advertisement talks of the “Samahdi” or
Living Burial and alleges it to be a genuine Oriental
miracle that can be learned from “India’s Hood Un-
veiled.” As testimony to this fact, it reproduces press
clippings of a vaudeville performance in which the
marvel was presented. This form of “miracle” has
been thoroughly exposed; there has never been a
genuine, sustained living burial shown on any vaude-
ville stage.
The catalog offers three books on Hypnotism. One
in its fiftieth edition; another in its seventieth ; the
third in its ninetieth. It prints a crude pen and ink
sketch by “an expert artist,” who “understands the
great and wonderful possibilities” of Hypnotism. The
picture shows a hypnotist, whose eye is throwing a
glare like a searchlight, bowling over a rigid victim by
hypnotic power.
The catalog states that this shows how Hypnotism
“could be used by a detective, should he understand
this science,” illustrating how a thief might be “in-
stantly hypnotized and not only made to confess his
crime but also forced to return the stolen article.”
In addition is a photograph of a man rigid between
two chairs with two boys standing upon his body.
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This is supposed to be a wonderful hypnotic feat
learned by studying one of these books.
The first case named — that of the electric eye — is
an impossibility, not within the range of hypnotism.
The latter case — the rigidity test — is an old stunt of
hypnotism. Any confederate, or “horse” as they call
them with the “hyp” acts, can brace his body to re-
ceive the weight of two or more persons.
The most advertised book in the catalog is the
“Great Book of Magical Art” which covers about
every form of occult mystery, spiritualistic develop-
ment, witchcraft, psychometry, astral auras, vampirism
and what-not that can be called to mind. It is sup-
ported by a batch of printed testimonials, in the form
of affidavits from purchasers who bought the book
more than thirty years ago.
Once a new student has mulled through this colos-
sal volume (leather bound at $10.75 an<^ $12.75), he
should be due to order a carload of incense, burners,
crystals, candles, talismans, scrolls, and Hindu tunic.
For the book covers all those magnitudinous subjects
and constitutes, according to the blurb, “A Veritable
Literary Macrocosm.”
Any one who buys from the book list — most espe-
cially those who have studied the “Great Book of
Magical Art and East Indian Occultism” — is ready for
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Dunninger under Test Conditions Produces, by Mechanical Means, the
Ghost of Harry Houdini which the American Press Pronounces Superior
to Any Materialized by So-called Spiritualistic Mediums.
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a diploma. This commends them to the attention of
the public. Persons who have received it consider it
priceless. Professional people — the ones specified are
“Clairvoyants, Mediums and those consulted by the
public” — apparently like to frame this diploma and
hang it on view.
These diplomas are free. Absolutely no charge. But
of course there is a charge for the services of the artist
who traces the name of the recipient upon the diploma
and attaches the seal. Plus shipping expenses, etc. The
charge is three dollars. In black ink. Gold ink looks
better. Being more expensive, it costs five dollars.
Among the many “free” gifts listed in the catalog —
they are listed by the dozen and come with orders
for various books — is the “world-renowned” Kavacha
Talisman. You must use one of these to learn what
it is.
Worn about the neck, the Kavacha frees its bearer
from a paragraph of woes. It prevents untimely death
and early decrepitude. It bestows perpetual youth; and
is a charm against all “spirits, ghosts, constellations,
etc.” With this talisman, a man gets rich within the
shortest possible time.
The Kavacha Talismans are imported from India.
None sold for money. Given away — with orders, of
course. Five pages of testimonials (all written from
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India) praise the merits of the Kavacha. It has cured
malaria, insanity, toothache and writer’s cramp. It has
brought success in litigation, horse races and lotteries.
With the advertisement of the Kavacha Talisman is
printed a quotation — one Slo\a from the Sastras :
“Sarvagraha Prasamani Nishesa Bishanasini Jayam Sar-
batra Kurnte Dhamada, Sumatlproda.”
Beneath this, in big type: REWARD FIVE HUN-
DRED RUPEES, with the special notice: “Above we
have quoted a Sanskirt Sloka. It is not composed by
us but quoted from the Holy Sastras. If any one can
prove that this Sloka is not quoted from the Holy
Sastras but is a bogus verse, we are prepared to pay
him at once Rupees Five Hundred as a reward.”
You couldn’t win that award if you had a pocket-
full of Kavacha Talismans.
A perusal of this occult catalog is perpetually inter-
esting; but wearisome. Being limited to five hundred
pages, it has been crammed with pages of fine type
that produce as woozy an effect through constant read-
ing as any crystal ball or Oriental incense.
It illustrates to what extent belief in a hodge-podge
of superstitions can be fostered and promulgated. It
reminds one of a spirit medium’s lecture. It is filled
with long paragraphs of psychic propaganda that fits
the customers whom it reaches.
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Apparently, this one mail order house has been suc-
cessful. The size of the catalog testifies to that fact.
Moreover, there are others in the business. This cata-
log warns against competitors. There seem to be too
many rivals, selling books that are not authentic; ped-
dling incense that will attract evil spirits instead of
good ones.
All of which shows the extent of credulity and su-
perstition as they exist in this enlightened age. It is
small wonder that seance rooms are filled to capacity
while this sort of propaganda is at large.
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CHAPTER XVII
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A SUMMARY OF SPIRITISM
T
JL he term “Spiritism” may be an un-
familiar one to many readers of this book. That is not
surprising. Every effort has been made to forget the
word; by those to whom it definitely applies, namely,
the Spiritists. They are the persons whom we know
as Spiritualists; who call their chosen cause “Spiritual-
ism.”
Technically, all believers in a divine influence are
“spiritualists” as opposed to “materialists.” But within
the past century, a single group has chosen to grasp
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the title for themselves. They are the persons who
believe that disembodied spirits fluctuate between
another plane and this one. They base their precepts en-
tirely upon the supposed statements of those “con-
trols” and “guides.” They are, therefore, spiritists', and
their doctrine, spiritism , is a barren one; for it can be
changed or twisted at the whim of any one who claims
contact with the spirit world.
For mere convenience, we shall refer to Spiritism
by the term which its exponents prefer: Spiritualism.
We are dealing with mediums and their ways; and
they have managed to force acceptance of the term
Spiritualism to define their cult. With this concession,
we can briefly summarize Spiritualism and its growth.
Spiritualism is the outcrop of superstition. It existed
in past centuries, as the chief support of every belief
that balanced the incredible with the preposterous.
Alchemy, astrology, and other so-called sciences were
the antecedents of Spiritualism.
Bottled genii, werewolves, warlocks, wizards,
witches — every fantastic type of superstitious being
was promoted as a reality by the legitimate predeces-
sors of the modern Spiritualists. When reasoning men
forced old beliefs into oblivion, new superstition was
required. Modern Spiritualism supplied it.
Pseudo-science became the chosen method. When
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the Fox Sisters, in 1848, began their historic “rappings,”
they not only delighted the superstitious of their day;
but they commanded the interest of scientists of the
period. Thus they gained notice and distinction; and
showed that physical manifestations of a psychic nature
could be turned to profit.
It chanced that the sisters attributed their manifesta-
tions to “spirits”; and following their success, they pro-
duced other forms of phenomena. New exponents of
the psychic came immediately into the field. Thus
Spiritualism had* what it would term an “awakening.”
The facts, however, speak otherwise.
The Fox sisters were simply fakers. Their methods
were guessed by others of their ilk. The mediumship
racket was born. By the time the Fox sisters were
completely and decisively exposed, the field was filled
with a horde of new claimants, who stoutly professed
that they were genuine.
Truth cannot grow from fraud. Every form of
physical manifestation that immediately followed the
experiments of the tricky Fox sisters was based di-
rectly upon their efforts. It was the sponsorship of
sham — not the inspiration of genuine manifestations —
that began the era of mediumship.
Devotees of Spiritualism have therefore proceeded
upon a false groundwork. They have recognized the
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fact; but in their blind belief, they have counted upon
time to bury the recollection of the frauds perpetrated
by the Fox sisters. Remembering only the early suc-
cesses of the famous spirit rappers, they ignore the
exposes that came later.
As instance, I give this quotation from Conan
Doyle’s “Our American Adventure.” The book con-
tains this observation, inspired while Doyle was riding
through New York State:
We passed classic Rochester, most honored of all towns, and
blissfully unconscious of it. It is much more proud of being
the seat of the kodak industry than of the fact that on its
outskirts there came the first systematic touch between the
plane of mortal and of spirit. It occurred to my mind as we
passed what a fine thing it would be if I could now at once
start a movement here for building a fine commemorative
obelisk upon the spot, as a visible sign of our gratitude. If
every one who has had comfort from the revelation were to
subscribe some small coin we could put up one of the greatest
monuments in the world.
Thus does a recognized authority on the pro side
of Spiritualism establish the Fox Sisters as the origi-
nals. The facts of their various exposures are not men-
tioned. The Fox sisters were not only shown to be
frauds; one of them, Margaret, made a signed confes-
sion in October, 1888, wherein she stated:
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I do this because I consider it my duty, a sacred thing, a
holy mission, to expose it. I want to see the day when it is
entirely done away with. After I expose it, I hope Spiritualism
will be given a death blow. I was the first in the field and I
have a right to expose it.
Instead of mentioning the event of 1888, Doyle
jumps to 1903. Speaking of the house which the Fox
family occupied, in Hydesville, near Rochester, he de-
clares :
The original house was removed by pious hands and re-
constructed, as I understand, at Lily Dale. It is not generally
known that when it was pulled down or it may have been
before, the bones of the murdered pedlar and his tin box
were discovered buried in the cellar, as was stated in the
original rappings. The rappings were in 1848, the discovery in
1903. What have our opponents to say to that?
There is one simple answer. If the finding of the
bones was actuality, not mere rumor, we can conceive
that “pious hands” were at work some time during the
fifty-five years between 1848 and 1903; but most likely
during the thirty-five years between 1888 and 1903.
The latter period covered the time that followed Mar-
garet Fox’s confession.
The “planting” of false evidence — even human
bones — is quite a common procedure in the racket of
false mediumship. With modern psychics staking their
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game on the shattered reputation of the Fox sisters,
the “finding” of bones on the premises would be a
most obvious step.
Speaking further of New York State, Doyle remarks:
For some reason unknown, this corner of the world was a
scene of great psychic activity in the middle of the last cen-
tury. If the experiences of the Foxes had not established spirit-
ualism in Rochester, those of the Davenports would have done
so in Buffalo, only ninety miles away, in 1851.
The Davenport Brothers were more thoroughly ex-
posed than the Fox Sisters. They used a cabinet to
produce manifestations. The secret of their phenomena
lay in their ability to slip out of ropes and return to
them.
The work of the Davenports was detected by the
British magician, John Nevil Maskelyne, who saw
them in action through a chance opening in their
cabinet. Maskelyne reproduced all the phenomena of
the Davenport seance.
Harry Kellar, the American magician, was in his
early days associated with the Davenports. He knew
their methods; the famous Kellar “Rope Tie,” which
he presented as a trick, upon the stage, was based
upon the Davenport ties.
Years after the Davenports had retired from public
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life, Houdini met Ira Davenport in person. This was
in 1911. In his book, “A Magician Among the Spirits,”
Houdini states:
Ira Davenport positively disclaimed Spiritualistic power in
his talk with me, saying repeatedly that he and his brother
never claimed to be mediums or pretended their work to be
Spiritualistic. He admitted, however, that his parents died be-
lieving that the boys had superhuman power. In this connec-
tion he told me of a family by the name of Kidder in which
the boys faked Spiritualistic mediumship. The mother, a simple
woman easily misled, became a firm believer. After a time the
boys got tired of the game they were playing and confessed
to her that it was all a fake. The shock of the disillusion
almost drove her insane and Ira said it was the fear of a simi-
lar result which kept him from confessing to his father the
true nature of their work.
When Conan Doyle called it a “reason unknown”
that so many manifestations should have developed in
the corner of New York State, he applied the usual
Spiritualistic procedure of rejecting the obvious. The
Fox Sisters had become the talk of all the northern
counties. Other juveniles, like the Davenports and the
Kidders, wanted a share of the limelight. Faking
manifestations that would amaze the simple burghers
of that day became a regular juvenile pastime in that
section of the state.
History has repeated itself with absolute regularity
in the mundane affairs of Spiritualism. Almost every
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form of phenomenon introduced by a newcomer has
eventually been exposed, along with its author. Yet
the particular phenomenon itself persists, through later
mediums. It is the same story: truth claimed, with
fraud as its foundation.
Slate writing was an example. It was practically un-
thought of until Dr. Henry Slade began to produce
his messages in the sixties. Slade traveled; he was ex-
posed abroad. He finally reached Germany, and in
1877 deluded Professor Zollner, who at that time was
deep in a subject which he termed “Transcendal
Physics.” Zollner wanted to prove the existence of the
fourth dimension. In that mood, he took Slade’s trick-
ery to be genuine.
The medium’s downfall came when he encountered
other investigators. In Philadelphia, in 1882, he was
detected in his slate-writing fakery by Remigius Weiss,
an ardent anti-spiritualist. Threatened with arrest,
Slade signed a confession in which he declared that all
his work was trickery.
In 1888, Slade appeared in Philadelphia again, along
with other mediums, to show his wares before the
Seybert Commission, which had been founded by
Henry Seybert, a deceased Spiritualist, to study impar-
tially the problem of psychic manifestations.
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Of Slade, the Commission’s report stated:
However wonderful may have been the manifestations of
his Mediumship in the past, or elsewhere, we were forced to
the conclusion that the character of those which passed under
our observation were fraudulent throughout. There was really
no need of any elaborate method of investigation; close ob-
servation was all that was required.
The Commission also noted:
As a rule, Mediums assert that they invite investigation. Our
experience has been . . . that as soon as an investigation,
worthy of the name, begins, all manifestations of Spiritualist
power cease.
After sittings with mediums of various types, the
Commission produced this summary:
In conclusion, we beg to express our regret that thus far
we have not been cheered in our investigations by the discov-
ery of a single novel fact; but, undeterred by this discourage-
ment, we trust with your permission to continue them with
what thoroughness our future opportunities may allow, and
with minds as sincerely and honesdy open, as heretofore, to
conviction.
It appears that mediumship, in 1887, was wisely kept
beneath a bushel basket. It was later due to seek the
light. Mediums kept pace with the advancing times;
they developed newer and surer methods of accom-
plishing their frauds. With the World War, they found
great opportunity.
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Interest in Spiritualism always ripens at a time when
many persons have suffered loss of relatives and
friends. There was a call for mediums during the years
of the War; and a greater demand afterward, when
persons had more time to think solemnly of those who
had gone.
Yet mediumship is still the same. It depends upon
the old clap-trap as its basis. Mediums have increased
in number; they have added to the types of their mani-
festations. But they still depend upon raps; messages
on slates; luminous materializations; and all the old
reliable “gags” upon which the profession has thrived.
A question is frequently propounded: “How is it —
considering Spiritualism to be based entirely on fraud
— that so many men of prominence are inclined to
believe in it?”
There are two answers. One is that very few such
men do believe in Spiritualism. Counted individually,
they form a fair-sized number; but compared with
the total men of equal caliber, the number is insignifi-
cant.
The second answer is that the comparative few who
do believe have either been deceived or deluded.
Conan Doyle stands as an example. I have quoted
him several times in this book. Numerous quotations
can be cited which stand as proof that he was not com-
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pletely qualified as a competent investigator in psychic
matters. Once a person approaches Spiritualism with
the conviction that it is genuine, he can not help but
believe. Conan Doyle had that attitude.
Doyle indicated that the Zancigs, who did a clever
code act in pretended mind reading, were possessed
of “powers” that enabled them to accomplish thought
transference. He was impressed by a slate-writing
seance the first time he attended one, alone, under con-
ditions that allowed for trickery. He believed in fairies
as existent beings; and wrote a book about them, il-
lustrated with photographs of supposedly elfin shapes.
What of scientists, who have endorsed psychic mani-
festations ?
This question takes us back to Zollner and carries us
through a long period to the present. It brings an
answer which all mediums can supply: namely, that
intelligent, sincere investigators are more easily de-
ceived than ordinary persons. Once a loop-hole is
found for fraud, the medium can more than offset all
precautions. The very existence of supposed test condi-
tions offers great advantage once the faker has discov-
ered the weak point.
Indeed, fraudulent mediums have so effectively mis-
led scientists in the past that their bugaboo of avoid-
ing investigation has ended. The timidity that existed
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in 1887 was gone by 1923. At that time, and subse-
quently, awards were offered by different scientific
magazines for genuine mediumistic phenomena. More
claimants were found than in the days of the Seybert
Commission.
The general character of every test, however, proved
true to form. Clever claimants sought to pit their skill
at fraud against the analytical ability of the investiga-
tors. The net results matched those of 1887. Fraud
predominated and was repeatedly exposed.
True, there have been novelties in psychic swindles;
but they were of slow growth and development. The
faking of paraffin casts of spirit hands was merely an
endeavor to prove materialization as a fact. Spirit pho-
tographs became a popular item in the medium’s trick
box; but its growth can be attributed to the amazing
strides made in cinematography. When motion pictures
produced “ghosts” upon the screen, it was not surpris-
ing that spirit mediums should decide that they could
capitalize upon new and ingenious systems of faking
photographic plates.
Ectoplasm was an ingenious idea; but it was scarcely
more than a novel form of materialization. Its develop-
ment was furthered when certain mediums discovered
that such drug store merchandise as Dioxygen and
Kolynos could produce a mysterious-looking foam.
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The case of Margery, the Boston medium, represents
a modern case wherein scientific investigation was in-
vited. Margery was highly endorsed by Spiritualists;
but her manifestations brought too much investiga-
tion. Houdini’s books exposed enough of Margery’s
methods to show that the phenomena could not be
regarded as genuine. The medium’s later efforts to
gain scientific status were unconvincing in their re-
sults.
In concluding this brief survey of mediumistic
phenomena, I wish to impress one point upon the
reader. The success of any seance is dependent upon
the impressionistic qualities of the sitters. That fact ac-
counts directly for many of the so-called marvels that
have been produced.
We can concede that there are many mediums who
are skilled enough to produce clever tricks. But trick-
ery cannot awe the trained investigator. It may puzzle
him; that is all. It takes the exaggeration that only
a believer can supply to build a trick into the seemingly
miraculous.
Hence we find that the marvels of the seance room
are marvelous only as they exist in the minds of the
believers. Here, again, we find that intelligent believers
are the best from the medium’s standpoint. In their
impressions of seances; in the recollections that they
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carry, persons of intelligence commit what we may
term a systematic or methodical exaggeration. As a
result, their impossible descriptions of the seances
which they have attended carry weight when reported
in detail, if persons are unwise enough to accept the
statements without the substantiation of skeptical wit-
nesses.
The human tendency is to exaggerate a marvel.
Every one versed in the art of deception can testify
to that fact. We hear of the marvelous feats of magic
performed by the Hindu faquirs. They are marvelous
only to unqualified observers. Every magician who has
visited India has come back with true reports of tawdry
tricks that possess very little merit. The same applies
to the wonders of the seance room.
Darkness, plus desire, accomplish the same effect
upon the willing believer as do the fifes and tom-toms
of an Oriental setting. The person who wants marvels
in a medium’s parlor will find them just as certainly
as will the person who seeks them upon the street
corners of Calcutta.
The huge majority of all so-called psychic manifesta-
tions can be studied best from two definite angles: the
physical and the psychological. Human methods of
producing raps, articulations, and other phenomena be-
long in the physical study of the subject. The reasons
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— (220) —
why impostors continue in their efforts; and why other
persons are willing to believe in them — these are mat-
ters which come into the psychological classification.
In passing, I may refer again to Remigius Weiss,
the man who forced Dr. Slade’s confession in 1882.
There was a reason why Weiss was so ardently opposed
to Spiritualism at the time when he encountered Slade.
For several years, Weiss had attended seances for first-
hand information, in order to offset the efforts of
mediums whom he believed were deluding persons of
his acquaintance.
In 1881, he had become known to various believers
whom he had met in mediumistic circles. One day,
on a Philadelphia street corner, he happened to meet
a man who recognized him. Considering Weiss to be
a fellow-believer, the man began to recount visions that
he had recently experienced.
Spirits of importance had talked with this believer.
They had ordered him to accomplish a great mission.
The time would soon come; all that the believer
awaited was final word from the spirit world. He was
vague about the nature of the mission; he simply
promised Weiss that it was so great that when it was
accomplished, Weiss and every one else would know
of it.
Thinking that the believer’s vagueness marked him
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
A SUMMARY OF SPIRITISM
—(221)—
as harmless, Weiss forgot the matter until some weeks
later. Then came a tragedy that stirred the nation;
the assassination of President Garfield. Reading the
newspaper accounts, Weiss was horrified when he saw
the name of the assassin. It was Charles J. Guiteau, the
spiritualistic believer whom Weiss had heard describe
his “great mission.”
In amongst the cases of so-called psychic phenomena
are unquestionably those which cannot be covered by
ordinary physical or psychological treatment. These are
cases which certain investigators are willing to regard
as the truly supernatural. The term is not justifiable.
They are actually the super-normal.
If thoroughly and competently studied, these cases
would enable scientists to either classify them into sim-
ple, existing divisions; or they might produce a new
understanding of physical or psychological facts that
are as yet unrecognized.
Cases of haunted houses, wherein supposed manifes-
tations have occurred spontaneously, are those that de-
mand proper physical inspection. Instances of peculiar
trance conditions, auto-hypnosis, possible telepathy, are
those that involve the psychological. In some, both ele-
ments may be interwoven.
It is apparent that whatever phenomena may exist,
they will be found completely independent of medium-
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istic activities. Spirit seances were spawned in fraud;
they have survived through that same device. Mediums
claim connection with the detached events which have
occasionally startled mankind. Though they have no
knowledge of the causes of such events, they claim
such understanding and frequently gain a hearing be-
cause their listeners are as ignorant of the matter as
they themselves.
The so-called supernatural — when it occurs in the
manners that I have mentioned — should first be prop-
erly considered as the super-normal. Then it should be
investigated by scientists without the interference of
meddlesome mediums. Unfortunately, the tribe of fak-
ers is too large and too quick to arrive upon the scene.
The “pious hands” are always ready to help out as soon
as they learn that a study of the super-normal is about
to be undertaken.
More than that, they frequently provide cases that
seem to be bona fide , so that they can capitalize upon
them later. Unless a case of “haunting” proves to be
without weight. Then the instigators lie low and say
nothing.
Obviously, if the super-normal is to be properly in-
vestigated, the fraudulent mediums should first be
curbed. Their elimination constitutes the essential pre-
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A SUMMARY OF SPIRITISM —(223)—
liminary to any sensible study of occurrences which at
present constitute the unexplainable.
When Spiritism, alias Spiritualism, has been properly
relegated to its deserved obscurity, science will be free
to delve into the few facts which may then be cor-
rectly classed as the unknown.
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
APPENDIX
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City Magistrates’ Courts op the City of New York
Seventh District, Borough of Manhattan
The People of the State of New York ]
— against —
Emerson Gilbert, Joseph Lynnette
and Rose McDonald
Defendants
Complaint No. i
Practicing Medicine
Without a License
The People of the State of New York
— against-
Emerson Gilbert and Joseph Lynnette
Defendants
—(224)—
Complaint No. 2
Pretending to Tell
Fortunes
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APPENDIX —(225)—
Goldstein, C. M.: “Dr.” Emerson Gilbert was arraigned on two
charges:
1. That he, Lynnette and McDonald practiced medicine without
a license, in violation of the State Education Law; and,
2. That he and Lynnette are disorderly persons in that they
pretended to tell fortunes.
As to the first charge, the court can sit only as a committing
magistrate, and if a prima facie case has been made out, hold the
defendant for trial in the Court of Special Sessions.
On the second charge, the court has summary jurisdiction and
must determine the guilt or innocence of the defendants. The
defendants cannot and should not be found guilty unless the facts
establish their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
By stipulation, the hearing on the first charge and the trial of
the second were held at the same time.
The pertinent facts, briefly, are as follows: Pursuant to appoint-
ment, Policewoman Dolan went to an apartment on the 10th
floor of premises 200 West 54th Street. She told the defendant
Gilbert that she suffered from aches and pains in her back. She
was told that he treated such ailments, that a nurse would undress
her, rub her with alcohol, and after such preparation, he would
appear in the nude so as to permit of better contact with the
spirits.
Miss McDonald, dressed in a nurse’s uniform, assisted in re-
moving part of the policewoman’s clothing, and placed her on an
examining table, such as is used by physicians.
Lynnette sang hymns, and Gilbert appeared to go into a trance
behind a curtain which separated an alcove from the “seance
room” in which the treatment was given. The policewoman testi-
fied that then “Dr.” Gilbert appeared draped in a luminous gauze
veil over his nude body and placed his hands on her back to
soothe her suffering, aches and pains; that as “Dr.” Gilbert en-
tered the room, covered with the film of white gauze, the de-
fendant Rose McDonald said, “Here’s Dr. Walker.”
The officer further testified that the person in the gauze attire
was none other than the defendant Gilbert and that he, Gilbert,
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manipulated “his hands over her back and shoulders for the treat-
ment of said aches and pains.”
The defendant Gilbert denies that he was the person attired in
the white gauze, and contends that if there was any rubbing of
shoulders and back, it was done by a healing spirit, “Dr. Walker,”
called into existence by his “mediumistic” ability. The gauzy attire
was produced by the arresting officer and marked in evidence.
The exhibit is white gauze and not ectoplasm. By strange coin-
cidence, the opening in the garment fits the head of defendant
Gilbert. No one has ever claimed that spirits appear in hem-
stitched white gauze capable of being marked in evidence.
On examining the gauze in a dark room, I found it to be lumi-
nous.
There is no doubt in my mind from the evidence in this case
that “Dr.” Gilbert and “Dr. Walker” are one and the same per-
son. The name changed as the attire changed. Gilbert claims that
he never saw this luminous gauze. If his testimony is to be be-
lieved, then either the police planted this garment, or the spirit
“Dr. Walker” played a very shabby trick on the medium Gilbert.
There is no doubt in my mind that the officers did not plant
the gauzy attire, and I am convinced that the spirit “Dr. Walker”
did not leave this garment behind to embarrass “Dr.” Gilbert.
There was introduced in evidence a business card, reading “Dr.
Emerson Gilbert.” The defendant Gilbert admitted the card was
his. The use of the title “Dr.” in connection with the treatment
of human ills, by one not entitled to use it, is a violation of Sec-
tions 1262-3 of the Education Law, and its use is important in
substantiating the claims of the police that Gilbert engaged in the
practice of medicine.
Gilbert claims exemption under Section 1262 of the Education
Law in that what he did was merely the practice of the religious
tenets of his church, “The Society of Ethical Science Church,”
chartered by the Independent Spiritualist Association of the U. S. A.
The charter, defendant’s exhibit “B”, is dated February 16, 1935,
eight days after the first visit of the policewoman, and two days
before his arrest.
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APPENDIX
—(227)—
The record establishes beyond question that this church set-up
is merely a shield to cover a business undertaking on the part of
the defendant Gilbert. The testimony of Mabel Manton, the secre-
tary and treasurer, who testified that there was a bank balance of
less than $90., and the failure to keep books and records, though
she herself professes to be an accountant, is ample proof that she
was secretary and treasurer in name only; and that the income and
expenditures of the alleged church were solely in the control of
the defendant Gilbert.
I have the greatest respect for those who have religious faith.
I know of nothing more comforting in the storms of life than a
spiritual mooring. Likewise, I have the greatest respect for those
who, believing in a continuing life, are engaged in psychic re-
search.
Words are inadequate to express condemnation of the “religious
racketeer” who pfeys through prayers on God-fearing, clean-
living seekers for solace and comfort. “Religious racketeering” not
alone robs the faithful of their money, endangers their health, but
what is more important, it destroys the faith of those who could
otherwise derive comfort from it.
The Court of Appeals in People v. Cole, 219 N. Y., 98, in, aptly
said, “A person should not be allowed to assume to practice the
tenets of . . . any church as a shield to cover a business under-
taking.”
In People v. Vogelgesant, 221 N. Y. 290, 294, the court said,
“The law exacts no license for ministration by prayer or by power
of religion. But any one who heals by other agencies must have
the training of the expert”; and at page 293, “The profession and
practice of the religion must be itself the cure.”
The Attorney-General’s office has advised me that for practical
reasons it is its policy to prosecute only principals, and not assist-
ants. Because of this advice, the complaint against Rose McDonald
(the nurse), and Joseph Lynnette is dismissed. On the facts and
the law, I have no choice but to hold the defendant Gilbert for
the Court of Special Sessions.
As to the second charge, from all the evidence I am convinced
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beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Gilbert did “pretend
to tell fortunes” as alleged in the complaint. I am further satisfied
beyond a reasonable doubt from all the evidence that defendant
Gilbert is not entided to the exemption extended under Section 899,
Subdivision 3, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which reads,
“But this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the
belief, practices or usages, of an ecclesiastic governing body or the
duly licensed teachers or ministers thereof acting in good faith
and without personal fee.”
The defendant Gilbert for a personal fee of $5.00 told fortunes
and in addition rubbed shoulders at $10. a rub.
There is a reasonable doubt in my mind as to Lynnette’s guilt.
I find him not guilty.
As to Gilbert, I find him guilty of fortune telling, and adjudge
him a disorderly person (Section 899, Subdivision 3, Code of
Criminal Procedure).
The case involving the practice of medicine by rubbing of shoul-
ders is a matter over which I have no summary jurisdiction, and
it is referred to the Court of Special Sessions.
The circumstances surrounding fortune-telling at $5.00 a session
are referred to the Probation Department for investigation and
report. Having adjudged the defendant Gilbert guilty, the law
compels that he be fingerprinted, and I direct that this be done.
Pending investigation and report by the Probation Department,
defendant Gilbert is remanded for sentence to March 22, 1935.
Signed: Jonah J. Goldstein,
City Magistrate.
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